


Brothers

by JWade



Series: Angel [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Tear Rating: 7/10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-02 12:23:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12726534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JWade/pseuds/JWade
Summary: A few years after Sam started his angelic changes, the rest of the angels come into the picture. If only Dean had known what the consequences would be to that.





	1. Chapter 1

It had been a long few years. Sam had been getting better with the whole creation thing, but he still had a lot to learn. On the larger scale, he had a lot of trouble creating stable orbits of planets and moons. On the smaller scale, ecosystems were complicated. There was so much to be taken into consideration. He had taken to keeping a notebook of everything he had to consider and had gotten better at simpler ecosystems, but anything with complex life-forms tended to fall apart. Gabriel assured him that it took a very very long time before things like that became second nature. Like thousands of years. That did make Sam feel better. As did some of Gabriel’s stories about his own failed attempts at creation back in the beginning. 

Sam still popped in on Dean from time to time, but they had drifted farther apart. When Dean called him for heals, which was about once or twice a year, Sam would stick around and hang out for a while, and he still popped by for fun a couple times a year too, but their lives were so different now that it was hard for them to connect like they used to. Dean and Jo were still running together but they broke up after about six months of dating. They realized that they really had more of a brother/sister relationship than a romantic one and things just kept getting awkward. Once they figured that out, things were going smoothly though. They made a great team. Sometimes Sam would get a little pang of jealousy that she seemed to have replaced him in Dean’s life, but then he was sure that Dean felt the same sometimes about Gabriel and that was probably normal as they moved on from their previously creepy co-dependency. 

It was about four years since Gabriel had saved Sam in Cold Oak before the angels came nosing around to find out why things weren’t moving forward. Dean was hanging around Bobby’s house on a break when they heard the flutter of wings and the both turned, thinking it was Sam or Gabriel but instantly went on the defensive when it was someone else that they had never seen before. Dean narrowed his eyes at the guy who had a nasty case of bedhead. “You have not been to hell,” he said curiously tilting his head, giving a long stare that Dean was somewhat familiar with from Sam, who still had that problem sometimes at seeing their souls. 

Dean knew the drill. He had gotten a lot of information over the years about how the apocalypse was supposed to have gone down. He knew that taking an overtly hostile position would bring far too much attention and possibly cause more trouble for Sam and Gabriel than they were ready for just yet, so he took the track that they had all agreed on for this eventuality. Confusion. “Of course not. I haven’t died, and I’m nowhere near stupid enough to make a deal. I like to think I wouldn’t go to hell when I do die, but you never really know do you?”

“Interesting,” the apparent angel said tilting his head and scrutinizing the hunter more thoroughly. 

“You know, it’s usually polite to introduce yourself when barging into someone’s home. Actually, it’s usually polite to knock before barging in too, but I guess that ship has already sailed. Here, I’ll even start. Hello, I’m Dean.”

“Castiel,” the angel told him. “And I know who you are Dean Winchester. All of heaven knows who you are.”

“As fascinating as all this is, is there a reason you’re here other than to tell me things I already know?” Dean asked, resisting the urge to cut his gaze over to Bobby who he knew was putting up a banishing sigil just in case it ended up being needed. 

“Where is your brother?” Castiel asked curiously. 

“No idea at the moment. I haven’t seen him in a few months. Why?” Dean asked concerned. If they were going to be actively looking for him, they might just be in trouble. 

“No reason. I simply wanted to check on him,” Cas lied badly and turned to look around as if he would be able to spot him lurking nearby. 

Dean was getting frustrated and reached out and grabbed the angel’s shoulder, snatching him back around, his hand brushing against Castiel’s neck as he did so. “Bullshit. You’re here for a reason. Why don’t you just tell me what it is?” 

The angel’s only response was to narrow his eyes at the hunter and then fly away, and Dean cursed before turning to Bobby. “Do you think it’s safe to call Sam?” he asked cryptically, knowing that any listening angels would assume that he meant call him on the phone. 

“I think we can chance it, but don’t expect him to be able to come,” Bobby said just as cryptically. 

Dean nodded and picked up his phone and pretended to leave Sam a voicemail while he was really sending a prayer. “Hey, Sam. We had a visit today from something that called itself Castiel. He was really curious about where you were, so I thought I would give you a heads up.” That was all the info Sam needed. He would know that Castiel was an angel’s name and Dean wasn’t supposed to know about angels, so he couldn’t come out and say that he was an angel since he hadn’t been told that. 

 

Sam and Gabriel had been sitting in their created dimension and Sam was trying to get the orbit of a moon right, when he got the prayer and turned to Gabriel with wide eyes. “The angels are looking for me,” he told his husband. Since they had bonded when they first met, once their relationship had reached that level they had started considering themselves married. They even popped back to earth and had a real wedding last year with Bobby, Dean, Ellen, Jo, Ash, and Rufus in attendance. 

“Did they say who was sent?” Gabriel asked. He knew that the info had to have come over prayer, and the hunters usually prayed more to Sam anyway so it wasn’t surprising. Nor was the fact that they were getting involved now. It was years after things were supposed to be in motion and Mike and Raph weren’t exactly known for their patience. 

“Castiel, he said,” Sam told him. 

Gabriel closed his eyes and took a deep breath at the name, and when he opened them, he found Sam looking curiously at him. “Cassie was a good egg. One of the more emotional of the seraphs. Oh, he could hold his own in a fight. No question. But he reminded me of myself a bit in that he always felt things deeper than the others. I don’t even want to know what he’s like in the new order. How the brainwashing would have affected him.”

“It seems like we might not have a choice if he’s the one on our case,” Sam said sympathetically reaching out to put an arm around Gabriel and pull him close, resting a hand on his slightly protruding stomach. “I just wish it didn’t have to be now of all times.”

“I know, Samshine,” Gabriel said softly. “But we knew the risks when we made the decision. That’s why we made the backup plans for him if we don’t make it. We just have to make sure to stay under the radar for a few more months.”

“You’re still sure SHE’LL be okay with Thor and Sif if we can’t raise her?” Sam asked worriedly. He had gotten to know Gabriel’s ‘brother’ fairly well over the years, but they were still no match for the archangels if they came after the child that he was convinced would be a girl, unlike Gabriel who expected a boy. 

“I’m sure. Thor and Sif have missed having little ones around and even the archangels can’t get into Asgard without a full siege during which they will likely lose and Thor and Sif have a few other boltholes they can run to if it comes to that. They will take good care of him. Don’t worry,” Gabriel assured him. Thor was one of the few gods who knew who he really was and the only one who still had a mate and would happily raise another child. Even if it was an archangel child. 

Sam nodded. He had asked that before, when they first made the arrangements, but now that the danger was becoming more real, he needed the reassurance. Part of him thought that they should have waited until the danger was passed before they had a child, and they had discussed doing just that, but decided that they may be waiting forever if that happened, and even if they died, they wanted something of their love to survive. They had written notes and journals and even created holographic recordings of them for their child as they grew up. They also had journals written for Thor and Sif so that they would be able to help her through her archangel specific changes, like the wings sprouting, and learning to disguise herself as a pagan. They were as prepared as they could get. As long as they could keep Gabriel out of the line of fire until she was born. “Maybe you should consider heading to Asgard for the duration,” Sam suggested. 

“I will if it comes to that. I wouldn’t put our son at risk,” Gabriel assured him. “Right now, they are still just curious, so there’s no need to jump the gun. I’m just a quick flight away if the heat turns up. There’s no need to jump the gun here.”

“Just remember…even if it means leaving me in a bind, our daughter is the most important thing,” Sam said firmly. “Even if it means my death, you protect her with everything you have. You got that?” 

“Absolutely, my Samshine,” Gabriel said pulling him into a kiss. “Until he’s born. After that, I will be fighting by your side, come hell or high water. YOU got THAT?” 

“Deal,” Sam told him. He hated the thought of leaving their daughter without either of her parents, but he knew that one of them living without the other would be a fate worse than death and she would be well taken care of either way. Not to mention, they were stronger together, so any chances of survival were increased exponentially that way.


	2. Chapter 2

“I should go see Dean,” Sam told Gabriel. “Especially since we haven’t told him about the baby yet. If we’re gonna end up going underground, he should know before she’s born.”

“I agree, but only if it’s safe. Make sure he’s not being watched before you go,” Gabriel warned him. 

“Of course,” Sam easily agreed. He wasn’t an idiot, after all. 

It was almost a week before Sam got an opening and flew to Dean. He and Jo were on a random spirit case and Sam popped into the motel room as they were going through the public records. “Fancy seeing you here,” Dean told him, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. He knew that Sam would have come sooner if he could have, but it didn’t make it sting any less. 

“Sorry. You were being watched,” Sam explained and got a nod from his brother. “So the angels are looking for me now,” Sam said, hoping for a little more information. 

“Yeah. Castiel popped by when I was at Bobby’s. He was surprised that I hadn’t been to hell or wasn’t on my way to hell or whatever and then started asking where you were. I told him I hadn’t seen you in a few months and he started getting a little squirrely and left,” Dean explained. 

“And they’ve been watching you ever since,” Sam added thoughtfully. “Well since Gabe and I may need to go into hiding soon, I decided it was best to tell you now. You’re going to be an uncle,” Sam said with a grin. Dean’s eyes got wide and he looked to Sam’s stomach and Sam just laughed. “Gabe is carrying her.”

“Her? I’m gonna have a niece?” Dean asked with a grin. 

“Well we don’t know for sure yet. I’m positive it’ll be a girl, Gabe is sure that it’ll be a boy. We’ll have to see. But needless to say, if the heat turns up, we’re gonna have to go deep underground. At least until she’s born.”

“What if something happens to you two? What will happen to her?” Dean asked worriedly, quickly jumping on Sam’s girl bandwagon. 

“Gabe’s adoptive brother Thor and his wife Sif will raise her. I mean, we did consider you, but well…for one thing you’re a human and she will have powers, and for another, this life is really no life for a baby, you know. Thor and Sif did agree to bring her to see you as often as is safe or bring you to her as often as you want,” Sam said quickly trying to assure him that he wouldn’t be cut out of her life. 

“No, yeah. You’re right. I wouldn’t know what to do with a baby period, much less an archangel baby and I couldn’t keep her hidden well enough. Thanks…you know…for thinking about me anyway,” Dean told him trying not to be too emotional about it. He might have been hurt by not even being asked if Sam hadn’t explained so quickly. At the very least, it meant that he had considered the possibility. “Well this calls for a drink!” he said cheerfully, but before he could grab a bottle of whiskey from his bag, Sam snapped up a bottle of the finest scotch in the world. “Nice,” Dean said appreciatively as he took a long swig from the bottle before handing it to Sam who was rolling his eyes amusedly. 

It was about an hour later before Dean asked, “Have you thought about names yet?” 

“Not really. Gabe’s only a few months along. We have plenty of time. We did decide that she will have an angelic name and a norse name, that way she can go by either depending on where she is, but that’s as far as we’ve gotten.”

“Well it’s not angelic or norse, but I’m still gonna throw Dean in the ring for consideration,” he joked. 

Sam laughed. “We’ll give it all the consideration it deserves,” he teased. 

“So, none then?”

“Pretty much,” Sam said amusedly, ducking the pillow that his brother threw at him. Needless to say, very little research got done that night, but Sam and Dean felt closer than they had in a long time. 

It was a few weeks later before Sam got a rather nervous prayer from Dean and he rushed right over. The angels seemed to have given up on watching him after the first week. Gabriel said they were probably trying to regroup and decide where to go from here. When he arrived, he found Dean pacing in a small motel room, looking more on edge than Sam had ever seen him. “What’s up?” Sam asked concerned. 

“Sam!” Dean nearly jumped out of his skin, which spoke a lot to his current mental state. His finely honed ears could usually pick up the flutter of wings a mile away. Once he saw that he had his brother’s undivided attention, the words started pouring out. “I didn’t notice at first. It was so gradual. But before long I just…I couldn’t ignore it. I…I remembered what happened to you…”

“Dean! Calm down and tell me what’s going on,” Sam said shortly, trying to cut off the rambling. 

“Food tastes like ash. Except for sweets which taste even better than before. I barely sleep anymore, if I sleep at all…”

Sam’s eyes went wide. “Shit…” he breathed out. “Come with me,” he said quickly grabbing Dean’s arm and flying him away before he could even protest. 

They reappeared back on the partially formed world he and Gabriel had been working on. Atmosphere, thankfully, was one of the few things Sam had down pat by now. “Sam? What…” Gabriel started to ask when they arrived. He’d never brought Dean to this dimension before, and was curious as to why the change but as he looked closer he could see it. It was faint, but it was there. “Fuck,” he breathed out much like Sam had. 

“Tell me I’m wrong?” Dean practically begged. “Tell me I’m just being paranoid. Hell, tell me I have some terminal disease that is making me sleep less and messing with my taste buds. Just tell me this isn’t happening.”

“Sorry, bucko. No can do,” Gabriel said sympathetically. “Who’d you touch?” 

“Castiel,” Dean said defeated sinking to the ground and putting his head in his hands. “He’s the only one I’ve met. I didn’t think…Oh god,” he choked out the last bit as he felt his world spinning off its axis. 

“What do we do?” Sam asked worriedly. “Can he disguise himself yet? Should he? I mean, they know Castiel is around so it would be more suspicious if he was suddenly becoming a pagan after meeting him right? And wouldn’t Cas know that Dean is his soulmate?” Sam’s lips almost twitched at hearing Dean’s whimper at that last word. If the situation wasn’t so serious, then he might have been more amused. 

“You’re right. It would be very suspicious. Not to mention, point out the fact that an angel CAN disguise their grace as pagan once Cassie realizes what’s going on. That alone would throw way too much heat on us. It’s a good thing they stopped watching when they did, or they might have noticed the changes too. Now we have a little time to figure out what to do next,” Gabriel told him. 

“Can we hide him?” Sam asked. 

“Not for long. His bond with Cassie will mean that he’ll always be able to find him with enough effort. Not to mention, this dimension won’t be good for his growing grace. He needs to be surrounded by our father’s creation, not yours and mine. That’s the same problem we would have in Asgard if we tried to hide him there, despite the fact that it’s better protected than this place,” Gabriel told him. 

“You realize HE is right here, right?” Dean grumbled. 

“Sorry. You seemed a little out of it,” Sam told him with the beginnings of an amused smile. 

“You really think I want to be hidden away somewhere like some damsel in distress?” he asked frustrated. “They don’t know about you, yet, but once they realize about me the apocalypse will be off anyway, and they only have themselves to blame. If anything, I would think this takes the heat off of you two…assuming they don’t find out who Gabe really is.”

“Deano has a point,” Gabriel said thoughtfully. “The biggest danger to us was them finding out about me. Killing any of us wouldn’t put their plans on track. They might try to do so anyway, just for revenge, but that’s not so likely. Once they realize however, they would be very likely to try and bring you into the fold and brainwash you like the others though, so keeping them in the dark is still a good thing.”

“So, we’re back to the how,” Sam pointed out. 

“I don’t have the slightest clue,” Gabriel said with a shrug before jumping a bit and putting a hand on his stomach. 

“Is she okay?” Sam asked worriedly, rushing to his husband’s side. 

“Yeah. I guess he’s just picking up on our worry and getting a little worked up,” Gabriel reassured him. 

“She’s kicking now?” Sam asked reaching his hand out. 

“That was the first one,” Gabriel told him, guiding Sam’s hand to the right spot as the baby kicked again. 

“Wow…” Sam said breathlessly, all thought of his brother’s predicament flying from his head in the face of this new revelation. 

There was a few minutes of silence as they just stood there, feeling their child’s kicks before Dean pulled himself together enough to get up. “Can I?” he asked hopefully. Gabriel took Dean’s hand and moved it to the same spot as Sam moved his own away. “Wow,” Dean said in awe. “That’s amazing. You’re gonna have a baby,” he grinned at Sam. 

Sam grinned back at him. He knew how Dean was feeling. This just made it all the more real. He wasn’t even sure if Dean had noticed Gabriel’s baby bump before now with how much turmoil he was in when he got here. That brought his mind back to their predicament. “So, anyone have any ideas?” 

“I think we should send him back to his normal life for now. They aren’t watching anymore for the time being and if I know Mikey, he will want Dean to come willingly which means when they do notice, they’ll probably send Cassie to start working on winning him over. That’s if Cassie isn’t the one to notice and keeps it to himself. Either way, we’ll have time to figure it out. Sam, you’ll want to check in on him often and help him work through the changes. I would, but I’m not too comfortably spending a lot of time out in the open like this,” Gabriel said motioning to his protruding stomach. 

“You’re sure we’ll have time?” Sam asked worriedly. 

“Worst case scenario, they won’t send more than a couple seraphs to nab him and he can pray so you can spring him. You’re more than a match for anyone they would send,” Gabriel assured him. An archangel could easily take out as many as fifty seraphs without breaking a sweat, even one as inexperienced as Sam. Gabriel himself could probably take out five times that number if there were no humans around to worry about collateral damage. 

Sam nodded and turned to Dean. “If you’re good with that plan, I’ll take you back and give you a day or two to wrap your head around things before I start working with you on your powers. At least this time we know what’s going on, so we have a little more time to figure things out before the big stuff starts happening.” Dean just nodded, so Sam returned him to his motel room and headed back to Gabriel.


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later, Sam flew to Dean, finding him at Bobby’s house. “Taking some down time?” Sam asked curiously. 

“Well I can hardly be out there hunting if I’m going through all this crap, can I?” Dean said bitterly. He wasn’t going to risk losing control of his powers or something out there on the road at a crucial moment. 

“You have a point, but you have some time before you have anything to worry about. Gabe and I were talking over the timeline and it was about two months before we figured out what was going on with me and I was just getting into the crucial part of the changes. You should still have a month or so until it starts getting dangerous,” Sam told him. 

“But I’m turning into a seraph, not an archangel. Wouldn’t having less power make it quicker?” Dean asked. 

“Actually, it would be about the same in some ways. The power would come over slower, since he has less to spare, but it should only take about six months total for you to be at full power. Your wings should come in quicker too since you will only have two instead of six. We don’t really have an exact timeline since this has never happened before, but Gabe thinks that your wings will probably start to come in about the same time mine did and you shouldn’t be able to access the power until shortly after that instead of before that like me.”

“So, what do we have to work on now then?” Dean asked confused. 

“You should still be able to reach your core and since it’s still small enough you should have an easier time of that part than I did. But you’ll probably have more trouble with the meditation parts so it’s a good idea to start asap,” Sam told him. 

“Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. Me and meditation don’t go so well together,” Dean said with a wince. 

“So, you ready to go or you just wanna hang out for a while first?” Sam asked. 

“I do have a few questions before we get started.” Sam nodded and motioned for him to continue so Dean started asking questions about what his capabilities would be, what he would be expected to do if heaven got ahold of him, what heaven was like, how to contact other angels, Cas in particular, should he ever want or need to and so on. Sam told him everything he knew and promised to take him to Gabe for a few hours to talk about the questions he couldn’t answer. 

Sam took Dean to the same place that Gabriel had taken him when they were learning and told him to sit down and get comfortable, as Sam got into his own comfortable position. Once they were both seated Sam said, “Give me your hands.”

“What? Why?” Dean asked distastefully. Holding hands with his brother wasn’t exactly top on his list of comfortable. 

“Because I’m going to need to anchor you or you could get lost in your grace. I would have to get Gabe to come pull you out because I wouldn’t be comfortable enough in my ability not to destroy your mind in the process, and then when he goes in he would see every moment of your life, including your thoughts and feelings, and I’m guessing you would rather avoid that,” Sam said impatiently. If his brother was going to get all weird about a little thing like holding his hands, this was going to be far more difficult than it needed to be. 

“Yeah, okay,” Dean said with a sigh and put his hands in Sam’s and Sam started talking him through the meditation. After about twelve hours, they had made no progress and they were both getting frustrated and nerves were starting to fray so Sam called it quits for the day. He promised to return the next day and try again. 

Sam returned to Gabriel more than a little frazzled and Gabriel couldn’t help but chuckle. “Long day?” he asked amusedly. Sam went into a long-winded rant about Dean’s attention span, attitude, work ethic, and anything else he could think of that could contribute to the situation and Gabriel just sat there and let him vent. Once he was finished, Gabriel felt free to chime in. “We knew that he was going to be much more difficult than you were when it came to meditation. You have to remember to be patient with him. If you push him then you both get annoyed and he feels too much pressure and it just makes it even more difficult. You remember when I was teaching you and I made it clear that there was no rush and no pressure. I let you take your time and figure things out. You have to do the same with him, but even more so, since he’s starting at such a disadvantage. The difference this time is that you DO have time. Just try and remember that.”

Sam took a deep calming breath. “Yeah. You’re right. I guess I was pushing kinda hard. I just know Dean. He doesn’t put effort into anything unless there’s something in it for him.”

“And there is something in this for him. I’m sure that he wants to get all this under control just as badly as you want him to. I know it’s hard, but in this you have to stop thinking of yourself as his brother, and think of yourself as his teacher. Give him the tools and the motivation and then give him the space to figure it out.”

“Right. I’ll try that. Thanks Gabe,” Sam said pulling his husband close and wrapping his arm around him, resting his hand on his stomach so that he could feel the baby kick. Nothing ever relaxed him more these days than the moments just curled up with his husband, feeling their child move. “I think I’m just feeling a little pressure myself because I want to get him far enough to work on his own for at least a few weeks after our daughter is born so I can be with her for a while.”

“I can understand that,” Gabriel told him. “I want you there for our son too. Just try to remember we don’t have any control over that and the more pressure you put on your brother, the harder it will be for him. The best thing you can do is just relax and let things happen and hope for the best. Worst case scenario, he can come stay in Asgard for a week or two. By that point, being in another dimension wouldn’t do him much harm. You won’t be able to work much on his powers, but you could work on other things here and there when you can tear yourself away from us.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I didn’t think of that,” Sam said with a nod. He might just do that anyway. Give Dean some time with his niece. If only they could keep the shit from hitting the fan before then. 

It was another three days before Dean managed to get into a meditative state, Sam following Gabriel’s advice and keeping the pressure off of him. It did help quite a bit, but there was still a great deal of frustration during the process. In that first meditation, Dean didn’t manage to find his grace, but the next time he did and Sam let him stay in it for a few hours before he started bringing him back. Since that was done, Sam went with the normal process of helping Dean to know himself inside and out, rather than rushing straight into control as he’d had to. Dean spend a great deal of time over the next few weeks immersed in his grace and doing some ‘soul searching’, or grace searching in this case. 

By the time Dean was finished with that process it was only a few days before he started to complain about his back itching terribly. Sam had been a little nervous about doing this with his brother until Gabriel had reminded him that the only reason they were affected sexually was because of their bond as soulmates. It would be far different doing this for his brother. It would still be just as intense, but it would foster brotherly feelings rather than romantic ones. It would still be a little uncomfortably at first. “Take off your shirt and turn around,” Sam told his brother. 

“Do what?” Dean asked wide-eyed. This was way outside his comfort zone. 

“That itching is your wings starting to bud. I need to take care of them for you or the itching will just get worse until it drives you nuts,” Sam explained, not realizing that he and Gabriel had always taken care of his wings in private, so his brother would have no idea what it involved. 

“What are you going to do?” Dean asked uncomfortably. 

“Just massage the oil into them to stop the itching. I’ll need to do that three times a day until they’re grown enough to create their own oils in a month or two,” Sam explained patiently, remembering Gabriel’s advice of no pressure. 

“O-okay,” Dean said nervously as he started unbuttoning his shirt. Sam remembered how Gabriel had hidden the full process from him the first time and how that had made it easier on him so he waited until Dean was sitting with his back to Sam before he removed his own shirt and pulled out his wings, squeezing the oil from the gland and started rubbing it into Dean’s back just inside his shoulder blades. He felt the emotions washing over him, but true to Gabriel’s word, there was just a massive increase in the brotherly love he felt, rather than anything more. 

Even as Dean’s physical discomfort eased, his emotional discomfort got worse. He’d never been good with feelings and now he was being flooded with feelings more intense than he’d ever felt. Not to mention, he wasn’t so good at letting people take care of him and since that was the kind of feelings he was being hit with, it just made it worse. He couldn’t resist the urge to look back over his shoulder and gasped as he caught sight of Sam’s six brown wings spread behind him. “What…what are you doing?” Dean asked haltingly. 

“I’m using the oils from my wings to help yours. It’s the way it’s always done. Gabe used to help his brother’s wings come in this way back in heaven, and that’s how he helped mine too,” Sam told him, using the brothers example first to try and keep Dean relaxed. 

“Is it supposed to be so…”

“Intense?” Sam finished when he saw Dean struggling for the word. “Yeah. Taking care of each other’s wings is the ultimate act of caring. It strengthens the brotherly bond between angels.”

Dean shifted a little uncomfortably again, but couldn’t bring himself to stop this even though the itching was nearly gone now. “And it’s just until the wings are far enough along?” Dean asked not sure which way he wanted the answer to go.

“It only HAS to be done that long. After that, it’s best to groom each other’s wings at least weekly, but you CAN self-groom. It’s just more difficult and it kinda does the opposite emotionally. Makes you feel lost and alone kinda,” Sam told him, having gotten that much information out of Gabriel once their relationship was solid enough that he wouldn’t feel pressured to keep grooming him if he didn’t want to. “You’re done,” Sam told him, patting him on the shoulder before snapping his fingers and replacing both of their shirts as he put his wings away.


	4. Chapter 4

Dean wouldn’t admit that he greatly looked forward to the times that Sam had to help with his wings. There was something about that kind of feeling of acceptance and camaraderie that was almost intoxicating. It wasn’t long after his wings started sprouting that Sam had him start to tap into his powers. He coached him through going down inside his grace and letting it fill him up. What happened after that was more than amusing as Dean struggled to keep control. Things kept happening around him and he had a new respect for what Sam had gone through during this stage. Needless to say, he more than paid Sam back for dumping a gallon of milk on him. 

Unfortunately, as they’d feared, the use of the powers brought another visitor. Sam had just finished coaching Dean through setting the ‘filters’ on the powers and how to adjust them as need be when he tensed up and said, “I gotta go,” before he disappeared without another word. 

Dean got his answer as to why, when Castiel was suddenly standing next to him again. "What are you doing?” The seraph asked curiously, tilting his head. 

“You should know. This is your fault,” Dean snapped, annoyed. 

“I don’t understand,” Castiel said tilting his head further and squinting at the hunter. “You have grace. How is that possible?”

Dean had discussed this eventuality with Sam and Gabriel and they had decided that him not knowing would be too suspicious, especially since someone had obviously been taking care of his wings, so they decided to go with a version of the truth. “From what I understand, you must be my soulmate and when I touched you when we met, it started turning me into an angel,” Dean pointed out with a glare. 

“No. That can’t be possible. You belong to Michael. Not to me,” Cas said as his eyes widened and he realized that he was about to be in a boatload of trouble. “Who…who told you that?” 

“I have friends among the pagans, and they have been helping me through the changes and teaching me to use the powers,” Dean told him. “Everything that YOU should have been doing.”

“No. I can’t. This is…”

“And who’s this ‘Michael’ I’m supposed to ‘belong to’?” Dean remembered to ask at the last minute, almost forgetting that he wasn’t supposed to know that part. 

“I must think on this,” Cas said, disappearing. 

Sam returned not long after Cas left, so Dean assumed that the seraph hadn’t set a watch on him. When Dean told Sam about the encounter, Sam breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. That means he’s not planning to involve heaven yet. He’ll probably try and find a way to keep himself out of trouble for it, but when he fails to think of one it could go either way.”

“Meaning?” 

“Meaning he will either throw himself on Michael’s non-existent mercy and beg for forgiveness or he will run and hide, likely with us…or you anyway.”

“And if he runs with me, what will you and Gabe do?” Dean asked worriedly. He didn’t want to lose his brother again. 

“I don’t know. Gabe and I have discussed it, but it’s hard to come to an agreement right now. A lot will depend on the timing. The baby will be born in two months and then it will be easier to take the chance of letting him see us, but until then…Gabe is having trouble keeping his grace from shining through while carrying an archangel baby and if he recognizes me as ‘the other vessel’ he may decide that it’s a good way to keep himself out of trouble by pointing out that their plans were ruined before he entered the picture and point the blame at Gabe…or the pagans anyway.”

Dean took a deep breath. “Yeah. I guess it is pretty crappy timing,” Dean tried to understand. All the mediation and soul-searching was doing wonders for his temper and ability to process things. Or perhaps that had more to do with the mental changes he was undergoing. “I would much rather be hiding with you guys than with him though.”

“The problem is that you two are connected. We can’t hide you from him. Best case scenario, we take you to Asgard, but then you will have trouble connecting to your grace as weak as it is and if you’re cut off there for too long then it could stunt your growth. Plus, that would put them in the position of either having to deny Cas entry, which could kick off a war, or letting him in anyway and risking their people with a rogue seraph running around. Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy solution here.”

“So, what do you suggest? I know you and Gabe have worked over every possible scenario here. What’s the best option?” 

“Best option would be, if he runs, go with him. Sound him out. If you are reasonably sure that you can keep him from going back to heaven and keep him on our side, pray for me. We keep Gabe out of the loop until the baby is born, and he will never see the baby until we can be a thousand percent sure of his loyalty since she won’t be able to disguise herself as a pagan until she’s older.”

“And if he doesn’t run? If he goes back to heaven with the info?” Dean asked worriedly. 

“Then we have no choice but to take you and disappear into Asgard. It’s that or let them take you to heaven and brainwash you,” Sam said sadly, hoping that it didn’t come to that. “If we can put it off until you’ve finished growing then that would be best. If Cas comes back to you before going to heaven, try to convince him to give you that time at least.”

“Okay. I can do that,” Dean said with a nod. “Now my wings are starting to itch.” Dean was still having trouble getting into a mindset where a statement like that didn’t completely blow his mind. 

“Yeah. I figured. I was hoping he wouldn’t stay long,” Sam told him as they assumed the position. 

It was almost two more weeks until Cas returned, and Sam had to bail just as they started on Dean’s wings which were now sprouting feathers. Dean huffed and said without turning around, “You could have at least waited until my wings were taken care of before you ran my help off.”

“I apologize,” Cas said evenly, not sounding particularly sorry. “I…I believe that I should…what I mean is…you were correct. This is what I should be doing. If you will allow…”

“Fine. Whatever. Just hurry it up,” Dean said impatiently. The itching was starting to get maddening. 

Cas removed his upper clothing with a thought and brought his wings out as he settled behind the hunter. Dean sighed in relief as he felt the hands begin to massage the oils into his wing joints. That relief was rather short lived as he realized that there was a big difference in a brother doing this and a soulmate. He felt his breathing speed up as the feelings welled up in him to such a degree that he could barely stand it. He didn’t realize that Cas was being affected too until he felt the seraph’s warm breath ghosting over his neck and he was obviously having just as much trouble keeping it steady as Dean was. 

Dean had never really been known for his self-control, so it wasn’t particularly surprising when he spun and captured Cas’ lips with his own kissing him hungrily as he buried his own hands in Cas’ wings. Cas tried to hold himself back, but he failed. He had no experience at all with this sort of thing, but he managed to keep up, just letting instinct take over. His hands continued working over Dean’s back while the hunter’s hands were buried in his wings and they both found themselves losing control. Dean moved his lips down Cas’ jaw and to his neck, biting and sucking as the angel gasped in pleasure before he suddenly disappeared and reappeared about twenty feet away. 

Dean stayed there on his knees, breathing heavily for a moment, closing his eyes and trying to get himself back under control, and when he opened his eyes, they went wide and he looked at Cas nervously. “I…I’m sorry…I don’t know what…I mean…I shouldn’t have…”

“You are not the only one at fault,” Cas told him, in much the same situation. “I did not anticipate…the intensity. I have only ever groomed a brother.”

Dean knew that this was his chance. He wasn’t exactly in love with Cas, obviously. He didn’t even know the guy. He wasn’t against seeing what could happen, but the fact that they NEEDED this to happen, was his main motivation here. Sam and Gabe needed the protection and the best way to do that was to get Cas on their side. The best way to get Cas was through him. “It…it’s okay Cas. I…you’re my soulmate, right? That means this is okay. Maybe…we don’t have to hold back on this.”


	5. Chapter 5

“I…find myself at odds,” Cas admitted. 

“Well, why don’t you explain the problem and we’ll see if I can’t help?” Dean suggested hopefully, motioning Cas to sit. 

Cas hesitated for a long moment before he did so and sighed as he began to speak. “You are supposed to be the one true vessel for the leader of heaven, but now that you have grace of your own…that is not possible.”

Only the fact that Dean had already known that kept him from losing it and allowed him to formulate a decent response. “And you’re afraid you’ll get in trouble despite the fact that it wasn’t intentional.”

“Intentional or not, I have spoiled his vessel. He will not take kindly to that.”

“Would I have had any say in being this ‘vessel’?” Dean asked. 

“Of course. A vessel can only be taken willingly,” Cas told him. 

“Then it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I would never have been willing to let anyone take over my body, angel or not. He would never have gotten his vessel,” Dean tried to reassure him. 

“It doesn’t matter. He will think that he could have convinced you. He will still blame me for my interference.”

“Is he not the one who sent you to talk to me in the first place?” Dean asked pointedly, knowing that he had to have been under orders. 

“He is, but that doesn’t change anything.”

“Well it should. It seems to me that this whole thing that’s happening with me…with us…is higher than even him. You may be the one I’m connected to, but he’s the one who set it all in motion when he sent you of all people to me. Seems like there is a bigger plan at work here to me.”

“There is no bigger plan than my father’s,” Cas said confusedly. 

“Then I think we should wonder if it’s HIS plan Michael is trying to carry out or his own. Seems to me that if it was God’s plan, then something like this shouldn’t have been able to throw a spanner into the works.”

“Michael gets his orders directly from our father,” Cas protested. 

“How do you know that? Have you seen him? Has your father told you that Michael is following his orders? Even if he is, how do you know that Michael didn’t get the order to send you to me just so that this would happen? So that Michael couldn’t carry out his own plans apart from your father’s?” Dean asked. The first thing he needed to do was to make Cas doubt. Gabriel was very clear on that fact. 

“I…I don’t…” Cas stammered as he tried to come to terms with the questions the hunter was asking. “I have…never met my father.”

“Then how do you know he’s even still there?” Dean asked pointedly. 

“You speak like you know something,” Cas said narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the hunter as something dawned on him. “How did you get the oils for your wings before I came?” 

This was exactly where Dean wanted this conversation to go. “I told you, I have friends among the pagans. They also have a friend who is an angel. He left heaven a very long time ago, after your father left and Michael made it into a completely different place than it used to be.”

“Heaven is heaven. It has always been,” Cas said defensively. 

“It wasn’t always like it is now. I’ve heard that it used to be a place of joy and laughter. Michael brainwashed the seraphs to forget, and started pushing your father’s plans ahead of schedule. I know that my brother and I are supposed to start the apocalypse, but I also know that it wasn’t supposed to happen yet. Not for a long time. Michael has been forcing things to happen too soon. I think that this whole thing with us, is your father’s way of stopping him.” That’s what they had decided about Sam and Gabe anyway. 

“I do not want to believe you,” Cas said bluntly. 

“But you know it’s true. It’s the only explanation that fits,” Dean told him. 

“But if Michael has spoiled heaven…why hasn’t our father stopped him already?” 

“I can’t answer that. Maybe he doesn’t want to take an active role anymore. Maybe he’s content to work behind the scenes like this. That’s what my angel friend thinks anyway.”

“Who is your angel friend?” Cas asked suspiciously. 

“Nope. Can’t tell you that. Can’t risk his identity getting back to heaven. They will come looking for him and brainwash him too and he’s the last one that remembers what heaven was truly supposed to be like,” Dean told him. 

“Then how do I know you are being honest?” Cas asked, narrowing his eyes at the hunter. 

“I know you can sense lies. Have I lied to you at all?” Dean asked. “How would I know all that I do if not from an angel?” 

“How do I know that he is being honest then,” Cas asked, trying to find some way to get his world back on kilter. Trying to find some way for this to not be true. 

“You know, because I’m telling you he is. I trust him with my life,” Dean said earnestly. This was the moment of truth. If Cas didn’t believe him, he would go running back to heaven and they would be screwed. 

“I must think on this…” Cas said, but before he could disappear again, Dean stopped him. 

“Can I ask you for one favor? As your soulmate?” Cas nodded slowly. “Please…if you’re going to go to Michael with this…Can you just wait until my grace is finished growing? Can you at least let me get strong enough to protect myself? Don’t send them after me while I’m still too weak to fight. Please.”

Cas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I will promise you that much. As your soulmate, I will not betray you until you can care for yourself.”

“Thank you,” Dean said with a nod. He had been warned that it would take more than the course of one conversation to get Cas to throw off all his brainwashing and think for himself. It would take him some time to come to terms with the fact that his entire existence is a lie. As long as he would insure Dean’s safety during the remainder of his changes, he could live with that. 

Sam returned again as Cas left, and Dean, once again, told him about the conversation, leaving out his little loss of control, but as soon as he mentioned that Cas had helped him with his wings Sam gave him a knowing smile, but refrained from commenting. 

Sam didn’t stay long this time. Gabriel was having more and more trouble getting around and he was trying to convince his husband to head to Asgard for the duration, just so he was nearby. They had decided that the baby would have to be born in Asgard where the protections would hide the explosion of grace during the birth and as it got closer, Sam was getting more and more nervous about it happening before Gabriel got there. He knew how much his husband hated being cooped up though and that’s where the main resistance was coming from. It would be bad enough being cooped up there for weeks after the birth, he didn’t want to have to be stuck there any sooner than he had to be. Needless to say, Sam was trying to stay as close as he could without abandoning his brother to deal with his changes alone. Gabriel was even having trouble flying between dimensions with so much of his power going to sustaining the baby and holding the changes he’d had to make to his own body to carry her. 

Thankfully, Cas returned a few hours later. Dean could tell by his demeanor that he had no intention of having any further discussion on the matter so he kept his mouth shut on the subject. “Did you come to help with my wings, I hope?” Dean asked. He had been about to call Sam. 

“I did. And in the future, you may pray to me for assistance should you need it,” Cas told him, not quite sure where the sudden possessiveness was coming from, but not able to ignore it either. The idea of another angel with his soulmate was driving him crazy. 

Dean could hear the undercurrent to Cas’ voice and fought the urge to smirk as he walked towards him, already removing his shirt. He knew where this was going to go. There was no point in pretending it wasn’t. Once his shirt was removed, he pulled Cas into a soft kiss that quickly turned hungry as Cas’ shirt and coat disappeared and he began massaging his oils into Dean’s back. Dean had never groomed Sam’s wings, but Sam had given him some tips, so this time when he buried his hands in Cas’ wings it was with a little more skill and surety than before and judging by Cas’ reaction it was good enough. 

Neither of them were sure how it happened, but they found themselves lying on the ground, Dean straddling Cas’ lap as the seraph laid on his back. His lips found a particularly sensitive spot on Cas’ neck as he ground his own erection over the angel’s and Cas started to tense up. “D-Dean…s-something’s happening…” he gasped out. 

“Shh. Just relax and let it happen angel,” Dean whispered huskily as he felt his own release nearing too. The idea that this was going to be Cas’ first orgasm was nearly enough to push him over the edge. 

“Dean…I…I don’t…oh…Dean!” Cas cried out as the coiling in his belly released and he could feel the waves of sensation washing over him as he trembled through it. 

“Oh, yes, angel,” Dean moaned as he came, before moving his lips back to Cas’ to kiss him slow and deep as Cas finally removed his hands from Dean’s budding wings and he disappeared, leaving Dean to flop to the ground with a sigh of frustration. At least his wings had been taken care of.


	6. Chapter 6

For the next week, Cas only came by a few times a day to help Dean with his wings. Sam would stop by for a few hours a day for tips and pointers on using his powers. He had given him the book on temporal theory, but he wouldn’t need the dimensional theory or temporal dimensional theory since seraphs couldn’t create dimensions. Dean and Cas still hadn’t gone any further than they had that first day. Dean seemed to realize just how innocent Cas was and didn’t want to push anything and Cas wouldn’t even know how to ask even if he did want more so they were at a bit of a stalemate there. Cas did always leave directly afterwards though for almost a whole week before he finally sat up after their fun and said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said.”

“Oh?” Dean asked leadingly. 

“Yes. I have come to the conclusion that you must be correct about Michael’s motivations and our father’s involvement in this situation,” Cas told him. 

“But…” 

“But I am reserving judgement on your claims of a different heaven in the past.”

“Understandable,” Dean told him. That was further than he had expected to get at least. 

“I am unsure what to do about these revelations,” Cas said sounding almost lost. 

“It’s a lot, I know,” Dean said sympathetically. “You know if you tell anyone though that you’ll end up right back in brainwashing.”

Cas nodded. “How do I go on though when I’m having so many doubts? How do I continue to carry out my duties when I know how wrong they are?” 

“You don’t have to, you know. You could leave,” Dean coaxed. 

“They would find me,” Cas shook his head. 

“Not necessarily. Not if we faked your death. I could talk to my angel friend. Find out how he did it. Maybe it will help you,” Dean offered. 

“I don’t know,” Cas said uncomfortably. 

“Okay. It’s fine. I don’t need an answer now. Just know that it’s an option,” Dean said placatingly, getting the sense that if he kept pushing he would do more harm than good. 

“I have told them I’m working on gaining your trust so that we can find your brother. I assume you know his role in things as well.”

“I do. And I hope you understand that I can’t and won’t tell you where he is until I can be positive that you won’t tell them.”

“I do understand,” Cas told him with a nod. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about this situation yet, but for now, the stalemate was acceptable. One day soon he would choose a side, and then they could revisit the issue. The discomfort he felt at the idea of allowing the information to be tortured from Dean told him what side he would most likely choose in the end, but he refused to make a hasty decision. They did take more time from then on to just talk when Cas came to help Dean with his wings. 

It was just over another week and Dean was ‘occupied’ with Cas when he got a frantic prayer from his brother. Gabriel had gone into labor. Dean wanted to go, but first he had to get rid of Cas. He pulled away and said, “I need you to do me a favor, Cas.”

“What is it?” the seraph asked, rather disgruntled at the cessation of their activities. 

“I need you to disappear for a while and don’t ask me any questions about where I am or what I’m doing. Just for a few days.”

“But your wings…”

“I have someone else to help and I promise you nothing like this happens when he does. I need you to trust me. It’s important,” Dean said seriously. 

“Will you explain later?” Cas asked. 

“If you choose me, then yes. As much as I am permitted to,” Dean promised. 

“Then I will do this for you,” Cas said with a nod. He would prove his trustworthiness to his soulmate. He was coming down off the fence but wasn’t quite ready to commit to it yet. Perhaps by the time Dean returned he would be able to do so. 

Dean kissed him softly one more time before saying, “Go. I’ll see you soon.” Once Cas was gone, he prayed to Sam to come get him if he could.

 

Sam and Gabriel were sitting in their training dimension and Sam was working on creating a water cycle for his new world when Gabriel let out a cry of pain and doubled over, grabbing his stomach. “Gabe!” Sam cried rushing to his side, losing his concentration and losing a massive rainstorm before snapping his fingers and clearing it all up. 

“I’m fine, Samshine. It’s time,” the archangel told his husband. 

“Okay. Come on. I’ll get you to Asgard,” Sam said frantically taking Gabriel’s arm and praying to Dean midflight. He had just gotten Gabriel settled into bed when he got the prayer from Dean. “I’m going to get Dean. I’ll be right back in just a minute. Will you be okay while I’m gone?” Sam asked worriedly. 

“You’d already be back by now if you’d just go,” Gabriel said with a chuckle before another pain wracked through him. Sam waited until it passed before he flew off and was back with Dean in just a few seconds. Dean went into the next room to wait, not really wanting to watch the process but wanting to be among the first to see his niece or nephew. 

When he got there, he found a large man with long blonde hair pacing and another petite woman trying to calm him. “Who are you?” the man asked gruffly. 

“I’m Dean. Sam’s brother.”

The man just nodded and the woman smacked him on the arm before she turned to Dean and said, “I am Sif. This is my husband Thor. Pardon his lack of manners. He is simply concerned for his brother.”

“That’s okay. I get it,” Dean said with his own nod. He could imagine that he would be in the same situation if it was Sam in the bed getting ready to push a baby out of his body. Not to mention he wasn’t about to risk pissing of Thor of all beings by taking offense. He did join Thor in his pacing though as Sif watched on amusedly. 

Meanwhile…Sam was trying to calm down enough to deliver the baby. Gabriel was adamant that Sam be the one to do it. It was tradition, he’d said. Sam was a basket case though. They found themselves in the strange position of the one in labor trying to calm the other. “It’ll be fine, Sam. We’re archangel’s. There isn’t any risk of something going wrong. Our son is already able to heal himself if something goes wrong as am I. And even if something goes bad enough that we can’t heal ourselves, you can heal us. Everything will be okay. All you have to do is catch.”

Sam took a few deep breaths as he tried to calm the still rising panic. He sat between his husband’s legs rubbing Gabriel’s knees reassuringly, attempting to reassure himself more than Gabriel, but it was working. “Yeah. Okay. I got this.”

“Good, because it’s just about time,” Gabriel ground out before the scream was pulled from him as another contraction hit. 

Twenty minutes later, a small cry echoed through the room and Sam was standing there with a glowing baby in his arms. As the glow dimmed he was entranced by the sight. “It’s…it’s a girl. We have a daughter,” he said in awe even as he walked over to Gabriel and sat him up so they could all three cuddle together for a moment. 

“Looks like you were right Samshine,” Gabriel said weakly. “Did you decide on which of the names you liked?” he asked. Gabriel had made a list of his favorite five angelic names for each sex and Sam had done the same with the pagan names and the other picked from the list. 

“I did. I like Sariel. I like that it means guidance, and I think that she could end up being the first of a new generation of heaven. She could be their guiding light just as she is ours.”

“I like that. It goes well with my pick as well. Dagmar. Maiden of light,” Gabriel told him. 

“Sariel Dagmar,” Sam said with a smile bending to press a kiss to her forehead. As the father it was his duty to bless her since Gabriel had carried her and given birth to her and he struggled for a moment to remember the ancient enochian blessing he was supposed to use. “Turbs congamphlgh ol dalagare elasa iaid malprigi od moz adagita insi a congamphlgh od page a goaanu,” he whispered, ghosting his breath over her brow as he did before looking up at Gabriel hopefully and getting a happy smile in return. 

“That was perfect,” he said weakly. “Why don’t you take her to meet the rest of the family while I get some rest,” he suggested. 

“You’ll be okay?” Sam asked worriedly. 

“I’ll be fine, Samshine.” Gabriel assured him. “It’ll just take me a few days to replenish my strength is all.”

Sam nodded and leaned down to kiss his husband lovingly. “Thank you, Gabriel. Just…thank you,” he said as tears stung his eyes.

“Right back atcha, Samshine,” Gabriel said softly before closing his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam stepped into the sitting room with the little bundle in his arms that he had wrapped in a pink blanket. As soon as he stepped through the door he was set on by the two men in the room. “It’s a girl?” Dean asked excitedly. 

“Obviously,” Thor shot back before Sam could answer. 

“Her name is Sariel Dagmar,” Sam interjected. 

“Can I hold her?” Dean asked hopefully reaching out only for Thor to push him to the side. 

“It’s my castle. I should get to hold her first.” As their argument degenerated, Sam just raised his eyebrows and took a step away so that the baby wouldn’t get hurt if punches started flying. 

Sif rolled her eyes and walked over to Sam as he edged further into the room. “May I?” she asked sweetly. 

Sam smiled and gently handed over the newborn and Sif immediately started cooing at her as she opened her eyes for the first time and Sam was instantly mesmerized by the golden orbs that were so like her other father’s. By that time, Thor and Dean seemed to have resolved their argument and Dean came over, leaving a pouting Thor standing a few feet away. He had played the I’m only here for a couple days, you’ll have her for weeks card. Sif looked up to Sam for permission and when he nodded, she handed the baby over to Dean. “She’s beautiful,” Dean said in awe. No sooner than the words were out of his mouth she spit up on him and then started to cry and he started to panic. 

Sam was the first to burst out laughing as he took her back, but he was soon followed by Sif and Thor, while Dean just grumbled and tried unsuccessfully to wipe off the mess without making it worse. Eventually, Sif took pity on him and handed him a rag and it was Thor’s turn to hold the baby. He took her and started bouncing her gently. He had raised a few of his own, plus grandchildren so he was old hat at this. “Now, little angel. No throwing up on Uncle Thor, you got me?” he cooed at her. Unfortunately, he had leaned down a little too far and she managed to get a fistful of his hair. Unlike Dean though he didn’t panic, just gently untangled her hand and deftly tied his hair back with his free hand. 

Sam wasn’t letting go of his new baby for long though and he took her back fairly quickly as he sat on the couch with her and snapped up a bottle to feed her. She wouldn’t be much different from a human baby for the first few years, so she would still need to eat and sleep and wear diapers. Once she hit her second birthday she would gradually wean off of those things though as her powers started to grow. Once she had eaten and been changed and was fast asleep, she did get passed around quite a bit. 

It was a few hours before Gabriel joined them and Thor quickly relinquished his place next to Sam for Gabriel to curl up to his side and they were left alone to enjoy their daughter and bond in peace. Dean waited until the next day before he cornered Sam and Gabriel and asked the big question he needed to know. “I think Cas is about to switch sides, but he’s worried that he won’t be able to hide from heaven. You got any advice or info I can pass along to him that won’t risk your secret?” 

“The easiest way would be to get himself assigned to some mission with a low chance of survival and then muffle his grace. They will think he died on the mission and not even bother looking for him. It won’t work forever, but it’ll work long enough for him to prove who’s side he’s on, and once I’m sure it’s safe, I’ll teach him how to camouflage it completely.”

“Good enough. I’ll suggest that. Thanks Gabe,” Dean told him. 

“Also, tell him that his brother still loves him and looks forward to seeing him again one day,” Gabriel told him. He found himself more emotional than usual lately, and it had just gotten worse since the moment he laid eyes on his daughter. 

The day after that, Sam returned Dean to the field, and once he was alone again he called for Cas who appeared almost immediately and pulled Dean into a rather possessive kiss which the hunter gladly returned. It was amazing how quickly he could go from not even knowing Cas to missing him when he was away. Once they broke apart, Cas asked, “Did you find out how your friend was able to avoid the sight of heaven?” 

“Does that mean you’ve made a choice?” Dean asked hopefully. 

“I won’t let them hurt you or your family. There is no choice there,” Cas said seriously. 

Dean couldn’t help but grin as he pulled Cas in for another kiss. “He suggested getting yourself assigned to a dangerous mission and then ‘muffling’ your grace so they think you died. Do you know how to do that?” Dean asked. He knew because Gabriel and Sam had been teaching him, but he didn’t know if Cas ever had occasion to need to. 

“I do. I sometimes get sent on missions into hell and it’s good not to throw a beacon to let the demons know you are there,” Cas told him. “That won’t work forever though.”

“No. It won’t. He has another method, but he needs to be able to trust you a little more before he reveals himself or his method. He did tell me to tell you ‘your brother still loves you and looks forward to seeing you again one day.’”

“He loves me,” Cas said scrunching up his face in confusion. 

“You don’t even remember love, do you?” Dean said sadly. 

“There is no ‘love’ in heaven,” Cas pointed out. 

“There used to be. I’ll have to see if he can share some of his memories without compromising his identity. If not, it might have to wait until he feels safe to reveal himself,” Dean promised. 

“I have difficulty imagining a heaven like you talk about,” Cas told him.

“I can imagine. He told me something of what it became, and it sounds completely different,” Dean said sympathetically. 

“I will let you know when I have been cut off. Can you tell me where you have been now or will you wait until then?” Cas asked curiously. 

“That depends. Do they have any way to get the information from you?” 

“They do,” Cas said sadly. “I’ll be as quick as I can,” he promised. 

It was a few more days before Cas returned and Dean could somehow feel the difference in him. “You’re done with heaven now?” 

“I am,” Cas said evenly. 

“You okay?” Dean asked concerned. He knew that it was one thing to talk about it, but something completely different to turn your back on everything you’ve ever known. 

“I have made my decision,” he said firmly. 

“That’s not what I asked,” Dean said gently as he reached out his hand to caress his angel’s cheek. “It’s okay to be scared or unsure. You’re basically walking into the unknown and that’s a big thing. I want to know how you’re doing with that.”

“I am…as you said…scared and unsure…but it is also…liberating in a way. I feel…free.”

“Good,” Dean said with a smile as he pulled Cas in for a kiss. “So you wanted to know where I was…” he waited until Cas nodded before he told him. “I’m not the only bonded Winchester. My brother was bound as well. To a pagan. Years ago. They just had their first child and I wanted to be there for the birth and to spend a little time with my niece.”

Cas nodded. “That is understandable. Are they well?”

“They are. Sa…Dagmar is beautiful and my brother’s husband came through the birth just fine,” Dean told him. He almost slipped and called her Sariel, but he knew that an angelic name would bring far too many questions and Cas was just smart enough to draw the correct conclusion. 

“That is good to hear. I understand why you did not want to tell me before. You worried that it would bring war to your brother’s family if the others found out.”

“Yeah. Exactly,” Dean told him. “That and we wanted to make sure they were kept safe at least until Dagmar was born.”

“That is a valid concern. Thank you for telling me,” Cas said earnestly. He knew that there was more to the story that he wasn’t getting. He could read that much from the hunter, but he considered himself lucky to be trusted enough to get the information that he did. He knew that as he continued to prove himself, he would learn more.


	8. Chapter 8

Now all that was settled, Dean snapped his fingers and bared both his and Cas’ upper halves, signaling that his wings were in need of attention as he pulled Cas into a hungry kiss. It wasn’t long before they were lying on the ground, but now that Cas had chosen him, Dean had every intention of moving things along so he nudged Cas’ knees open with his own and settled in between them. He made sure not to get them off while Cas was working on his wings, despite how difficult that was with the oversensitive seraph. He could tell that Cas was getting frustrated, but he just ignored it. He would thank him later. 

Once Dean felt Cas finish with his wings, he moved his lips from the angel’s neck down his chest as his hand moved over Cas’ erection, slowly but surely. He kept moving down as Cas writhed beneath him. Dean knew that it wouldn’t take long this time, but was determined to teach Cas a little more about carnal pleasures. As his tongue dipped into the angel’s belly button, his hands moved to open Cas’ pants and once his straining erection was free, Dean wasted no time diving in and swallowing him down. Cas cried out in pleasure as his hand instinctively went to Dean’s hair and he began to thrust up into the hot mouth, enochian pleas falling from his lips. 

Dean took it for a minute before he splayed his arm over Cas’ hips, holding him down as he really set to work. True to his prediction it wasn’t long at all before he felt the pulsing of Cas’ cock and the warm salty liquid hitting the back of his throat and he swallowed it down as fast as he could. Once Cas was spent he kissed and nipped his way back up the angel’s stomach and chest before capturing his lips again. “Will you do that for me?” Dean asked hopefully. 

“I will try,” Cas told him breathlessly and Dean couldn’t help a moan of anticipation as he undid his own pants and pulled out his aching length, sliding forward so that he was straddling Cas’ chest and the angel licked out his tongue experimentally to taste the pre-cum beading at the tip of the cock in front of his face. Dean sucked in a sharp breath and bit his lip to keep himself from forcing things faster than Cas was comfortable with. It seemed like forever, but was only a few seconds before he felt warm lips wrap around the tip and then move forward so that his angel’s mouth engulfed his entire cock, and he let out a whimpering moan. He couldn’t even keep himself upright at that, but he still couldn’t lay on his back either, so he arched back, palms on the ground to either side of Cas’ hips as his breathing sped up exponentially while the angel experimented, and he was rapidly coming undone. 

“Oh fuck, Cas. Just like that,” he gasped out as Cas hit the perfect spot and rhythm and he could feel himself tipping over the edge. He couldn’t help a few short thrusts just before he moaned out his release and he could feel Cas swallowing around him, milking him for everything he had. Once he was spent, he collapsed to the ground next to Cas, laying on his side, one arm thrown over the disheveled angel’s stomach. 

“That was highly enjoyable,” Cas said, still breathing heavily. 

Dean couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, it was, Cas.”

“I have a feeling I have a lot to learn about such encounters.”

“Don’t worry, angel. I’ll teach you everything I know. So far you’re top of the class,” Dean said contentedly, pressing a kiss to the angel’s shoulder. 

It was only a few more days before all hell broke loose. It seemed that with Cas presumed dead, heaven decided to get other eyes on Dean. He and Cas had been sitting there practicing with Dean’s powers when there was suddenly another man standing there. Cas hadn’t even had time to react before he saw them. It was long after that he managed to react though as he grabbed Dean’s hand and flew him away. “We can’t stay ahead of them for long. Do you think your pagan friends will hide us?” Cas asked before flying away again as he sensed Zachariah getting close. 

“Yeah. One sec,” Dean said as they landed. “Sam, I need some help. Cas and I need a place to lie low. They’re on our tail.” Cas flew away again before he could show up, but Sam met them as soon as they stopped again in what seemed to be Hong Kong. He grabbed each of their shoulders and brought them straight to the castle in Asgard only to find guards surrounding Cas. 

“He’s okay,” Sam assured them. Dean had been expected his first time there, so he hadn’t had to go through that part. “I take full responsibility for him.”

The guards nodded and backed off and Dean pulled Sam into a strong hug. “Thanks for the assist.”

“Anytime, Dean. So, what happened?” he asked. 

“If I may?” Cas interjected, knowing that he would have a better idea than Dean would. Sam nodded to him and Cas made his best guess. “I would imagine that since I have ‘fallen in battle’ they decided they needed someone else to keep eyes on Dean and look for you. I was distracted and didn’t sense him coming before he saw me. I didn’t expect them to assign someone else so soon. I apologize for the oversight.”

“No, it’s okay. We knew this was coming sooner or later,” Sam assured him. “I’m Sam, by the way.”

“Castiel,” the seraph said with a polite nod. 

“How’s Loki and Dagmar?” Dean asked, having not seen his niece in a week. 

“They are good. Loki’s just about fully recovered, and Dagmar is growing like a weed already,” Sam said with a proud smile. “Why don’t you go see her while I get Cas here settled?” Sam suggested. He wanted to get a good read on Cas if he was going to be here for a while, especially given that his daughter was here and they would need to know sooner rather than later if they could trust him. It would be difficult keeping him from catching a glimpse of her in this situation. They hadn’t anticipated Cas being spotted and needing to hide himself too. If he hadn’t been then he could have kept Dean hidden since the angels didn’t know that he was one now too. “Do you know if they were able to spot Dean’s changes?” he asked Cas once they were alone and the seraph followed him down the hall, heading for the rooms at the far end. If it were just Dean he would probably be next door, but he wanted some distance from the angel. 

“I am unsure if they had time to notice or not. I believe it would be prudent to assume that they did unless we learn otherwise,” Cas told him. 

Sam nodded. That made sense. “So, you are fully on our side now? No more doubts?” he asked, paying close attention to the seraph as he answered, looking for any sign of deceit. 

“I have a great many doubts about a great many things, but one thing I have no more doubt over is the fact that I will protect my soulmate and his family. With my life, if necessary,” Cas said firmly. 

“Even if you learn secrets you don’t like?” 

“It does not matter. He is my soulmate and I will do whatever is necessary to protect him and by extension anyone else he holds dear, regardless of any other considerations. I have not complained of his acquaintance with pagans, and there is little that could be worse than that in the eyes of heaven,” Cas pointed out. 

Sam nodded thoughtfully. He had a point, and he was sure that Dean would have told him if there had been any complaints about that situation. He had known about the pagan connection for a while now. He would talk to Gabe about bringing him fully into the fold. If it was going to come to a fight sooner rather than later, he would need to know anyway. He left Cas to settle in, warning him not to leave the suite without an escort and telling him that Dean would be back soon and he went looking for his husband.


	9. Chapter 9

Sam walked into the nursery, knowing he’d be most likely to find Gabriel and Dean there, and he was right. No sooner than he walked in, Gabriel turned to him and said, “So, Dean caught me up. Anything to add?” 

Sam didn’t much like the idea of having the conversation he needed to have in front of Dean so he turned to his brother first. “I set Cas up in the suite at the end of the hall. I told him not to leave without an escort and that I’d send you by.”

Dean nodded and handed Sariel over to Sam as he headed out to check on Cas. He felt bad about leaving him as soon as they got here. He probably wasn’t entirely comfortable here. 

Once he was gone, Gabriel raised an eyebrow and asked, “So I’m guessing you asked some pointed questions to get a read on Cassie?” Why else would he have rushed Dean out like that. 

“Yeah. He’s lost and nervous, but fully committed to our side of this whole thing,” Sam told him. 

“You think we should bring him fully into the fold?” Gabriel asked, surprised and Sam nodded. “You’re sure he can handle it? That he won’t go running back?” 

“I’m sure. And honestly, even if he does go running back, what does it change at this point? They’re gonna find us here before long now anyway,” Sam pointed out. 

“You have a point. Well, it looks like we’re out of time to run,” Gabriel said sadly. “We should get Thor in here if we’re gonna figure out how to handle this. It is his kingdom, after all.”

Sam nodded and handed Sariel over to Gabriel and went looking for Thor. When he returned, they got to business. “Sam looped me in. What kind of time frame are we talking about here?” Thor asked. 

“Well the first thing I should ask is if you’re still good with us hiding here,” Gabriel asked. 

“Of course. You’re still my little brother. If we have to go to war to protect you, we will. I hope we can keep it from coming to that though,” Thor said firmly. 

“Okay. Thank you, Thor. Really. We’ll do our best to make sure it doesn’t come to that. As far as a timeframe…it might take them a few days to figure out where we are assuming they have all the angels scouring the dimensions, which they will. Once they figure it out, Michael will be hesitant to launch a full assault on Asgard so he will take some time to consider his options. I would say between one and two weeks from now they will be here.”

“And you think they will go on the attack or will we have a chance to try and negotiate?” Thor asked, knowing that no one knew the archangels as well as Gabriel did. 

“There won’t be any negotiation, but they won’t attack straight off either. They will probably make a show of force and demand that Sam and Dean and their mates be handed over to them. The best option at that point would be for you to issue a challenge. Their best against our best, to the winner goes the vessels. Michael will probably insist on two on two, not wanting to fight without Raph at his back, at which point Sam and I will take them on.”

“Can we really win?” Sam asked worriedly. He was still very inexperienced compared to them. 

“You will focus on Raph. He’s a hothead and once he gets pissed, which realizing the situation will easily do, he will get sloppy and make mistakes. He also has issues with arrogance. He won’t think you can possibly be a threat to him as young as you are and you can use that against him. Also, consider the fact that both of them have spent the last few millennia on their gilded thrones, leaving all the fighting to the minions, so they will be pretty rusty. Can we win? I don’t know, but we can give them a good fight, at least.”

Sam nodded. “And if we fall, what happens to Dean and Cas?”

“I’ll teach them both how to camouflage their grace and they can run. They can’t be handed over if they aren’t here, after all. That will keep them free and keep Asgard out of a war,” Gabriel told him. 

“You’ll make sure Dean and Cas stay a part of Sariel’s life if we die?” Sam asked Thor. 

“I will. As much as possible given the heat that will be on them. I will not risk her, but I will keep them as involved as I can. You have my word,” Thor promised. 

Sam nodded gratefully before turning back to Gabriel. “Okay, so how do we play this fight without killing them?” 

“I don’t know that we can,” Gabriel said pained at the thought of it. 

“But we can try. What are our options?” 

“There is no prison that can hold an archangel for long,” Gabriel told him. “And they will not yield. Unless they choose to be reasonable, the only option will be to remove their grace.”

“How do we do that?” Sam asked, determined to do everything possible to make that happen rather than killing his husband’s brothers. 

“A small incision, here,” Gabriel motioned to a spot at the bottom of his throat. “Not too deep or it will kill them. Just enough to break the skin.”

“Okay. Then what? We release them to live as humans?” Sam asked curiously. 

“That’s an option. Or we can bring them back to heaven and try to get through to them. Try to make them see the damage they’ve done and agree to return heaven to its rightful glory, in which case we can then give them back their grace,” Gabriel told him. 

“How about a combination of the two. We let them live among humans for a while, let them learn a few things, and then bring them back to heaven and try to talk them down,” Sam suggested. 

“That could work. They will be inclined to see the worst of humanity at first, but eventually they will see the best of it too and learn some valuable lessons. I know the first few years I was on earth, it blew me away. It will certainly be an eye-opener. But Sam…you have to promise me something…if it’s them or you…you do what you have to do to survive. As much as it would hurt losing my brothers, losing you would completely destroy me.”

“I know, Gabe. I’ll do what I have to do if it comes to it, as long as you promise to do the same. I can’t lose you either,” Sam told him, knowing that it would be a lot harder for Gabriel to take a killing blow against his big brothers. 

“I promise,” Gabriel said evenly. “I won’t be leaving you or Sariel if I can help it.” He had too much to live for to let himself die now. Honestly, up until Sariel was born it could have gone either way. At least in death he would still be with Sam, but the second he laid eyes on his little girl, his whole world shifted. He would do anything and everything for her. Including killing his brothers if it came to that. “We should go talk to Cas now, so we can start preparing for what’s coming.”

“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea,” Sam said with a nod before turning to Thor. “Will you stay with Sariel? I want to wait and see how he reacts before we introduce him to her.”

Thor and Gabriel both nodded like they had been thinking the same thing. “Okay, Sammykins. Let’s drop our camo and go.”

Sam nodded and closed his eyes. It took him a moment longer than Gabriel to let his grace shine through but then they were ready. They both took deep breaths and squeezed each other’s hands for support before knocking on the door of Cas and Dean’s suite. Dean opened the door and widened his eyes as he could see the difference. “You guys sure?” he asked. 

“We’re sure. Things are about to come to a head and there is nothing to lose and everything to gain by letting him in.”

“Okay. Come on in,” he said opening the door wide and waiting until they stepped in before calling to Cas. 

“What is it…” he started to say as he stepped into the room before he stopped short, staring in shock at the two archangels in the room. By the time what he was seeing had registered in his mind, he fell to his knees and bowed his head. 

“Okay. That’s enough of that,” Gabriel said walking over to him and taking him by the shoulders pulling him to his feet. “I’m your brother, Cassie. Not your king.”

“G-gabriel…how…you’re…you’re Dean’s angel friend?...and Sam…you were pagan before…I don’t understand…”

“Looks like we broke him, Sammy,” Gabriel quipped amusedly only to get a smack to his shoulder from his husband. 

“It’s okay, Cas. Yes, Gabriel is Dean’s angel friend. He and I were bonded years ago when we ran into each other. He taught me how to disguise my grace to appear pagan, just as he did in order to hide.”

“Will you teach me, brother?” Cas asked hopefully. He wasn’t too keen on hiding here forever. 

“I will. I’ll teach you both. You may need it soon,” Gabriel told him with a nod before running through the plan, ending with, “I wouldn’t take on Norse pagan persona’s though, if I were you. It would be too obvious and the Norse will be watched for a while. Celtic might be a little too close too. I would go with Greek or Roman. I’m sure Thor could get you set up with them. He’s pretty close with both of their leaders.”

“Why not just teach us to hide and then we all go?” Cas asked. 

“Because they would still know that we took refuge with the Norse. They would still come after them. This way they have a chance to be kept safe. This has been my family for millennia. I won’t abandon them. Besides, we have our daughter to think about. She can’t hide her grace yet and out there, she will be spotted a mile away. We can’t keep her on the run like that, and I will not abandon her as long as I’m alive,” Gabriel said firmly. 

“I understand brother. I am simply concerned. Michael and Raphael are very skilled, and Samuel is so young…”

“I know. But we have a plan to maximize our effectiveness. We will at the very least give them a good fight. If we fall, you two run. Sariel will stay here with Thor and Sif. They don’t know about her so she will be safe. He has promised to keep you in the loop with her as much as is safe,” Gabriel added to Dean. 

“Thank you for that, Gabe,” Dean said with a grateful nod. “But you better not make it necessary.” Just the thought of losing his brother and brother in law was killing Dean, but he couldn’t blame them. He would make the same decision in their place. He too would fight any enemy for his niece.


	10. Chapter 10

Gabriel gave Sam a pointed look and Sam just nodded and turned to Dean. “Come on Dean. Let’s go take Sariel for a walk in the gardens.”

“Yeah, okay,” Dean said, getting the hint that Gabriel wanted some time alone with Cas. 

“Your daughter’s name is Sariel?” Cas asked curiously. 

“It is. Sariel Dagmar. That way she can walk in both worlds,” Gabriel told him. 

“Dean told me that heaven used to be different than it is now?” Cas asked the big question he needed the answer to. 

“It did. Do you mind if I search your mind and see if I can recover your own memories? I’m not sure how the brainwashing you were put through would have affected them.”

“Do what you must, brother,” Cas said bowing his head so Gabriel stepped forward and placed a hand on his head as he screwed up his face in concentration for a moment. 

When he stepped away, he said, “Good news. The memories are still there. They are just buried and blocked. Would you like me to unblock them?” He desperately hoped the answer was yes. It would make all this so much easier if Cas could remember the old ways. Remember love and laughter and joy. 

“Yes. Please,” Cas said hopefully. From what little he’d learned from Dean, he desperately wanted to remember it. 

Gabriel smiled and said, “You might want to sit down. It’ll be a little disorienting.” When Cas did so, Gabriel sat next to him and placed his hand back on Cas’ head and removed the block allowing all the old memories to flood his mind. When he pulled his hand back, Cas sat there blinking for a moment as he tried to reorient himself before he burst into tears. Gabriel had been waiting for that though and quickly wrapped his arm around Cas’ shoulders and pulled him close, allowing his little brother to cry on his shoulder even as Cas’ arm came around his waist and the seraph clung to his brother for dear life. 

It was nearly an hour before he calmed enough to speak. “How…how could he take that from us? Why?” Cas asked heartbrokenly. 

“He was broken, Cassie, and he wouldn’t let anyone else in. He couldn’t bear to be around the love and joy of heaven and rather than leaving himself, he decided to make sure everyone else was just as broken as he was,” Gabriel said sadly. 

“What…what happened to him?” Cas asked looking up at his big brother with watery eyes. 

“All of you younglings knew that Lucifer fell, but what most of you didn’t know was that Lucifer was Michael’s other half. They were split from the same grace, and they were everything to each other. The after that, Father left too, and he was put in charge and he just…broke, and he took Raphy with him. They tried to take me too, but I ran.”

“I wish you had taken me with you,” Cas sniffled. 

“I would have if I could have,” Gabriel said sadly running his hand through his baby brother’s hair. “I would have saved you all if I could have,” he promised. 

“But now you want to make heaven like that again? If you win?” Cas asked hopefully. 

“That’s the plan,” Gabriel said with a nod. 

“I will do anything I can to help,” Cas told him seriously. 

“Good. Because we’re gonna need all the help we can get.” They spent the next few hours talking about how heaven used to be and reconnecting as brothers before Gabriel took him out on a tour of the castle, running into Sam, Dean, and Sariel on the grounds. 

Now that Cas had more memories of love and affection and joy, he was better able to appreciate Sariel as more than just a ‘desire for offspring’. Unfortunately, suddenly having all those memories in his head that he was unaccustomed to made him more than a little emotionally unstable and he burst into tears at the sight of her. This was his niece too. This was the beacon of hope for a new heaven, and he was actually trusted enough to see her. “May I…hold her?” he asked hopefully through his tears. 

Sam looked to Gabriel who nodded encouragingly at Sam, who said, “Sure,” and handed her over gently, guiding Cas’ arms to the correct position to support her head. 

“She’s perfect,” he breathed out as she captured one of his fingers in her tiny hand. 

Sam looked at Gabriel curiously, obviously confused. He had just met Cas, but he definitely hadn’t expected this from him judging by how he had been before. The fact that Dean seemed just as confused made him sure that he was right. “I was able to unlock his memories of heaven from before.”

Sam gave a knowing smile, but Dean got a full out grin as he slipped up behind Cas and put his arms around him, resting his chin on his soulmate’s shoulder. He remembered love now. That boded well for them in the future, and he couldn’t deny the way that seeing Cas with the baby made him feel. He was nowhere near ready to think about them having a child yet, but he found himself entertaining the hope of someday. 

Cas may have been trusted enough to meet her, and even hold her, but he wasn’t quite trusted enough for Sam and Gabriel to leave him with her, despite the fact that they might have wanted to give the couple some privacy in their obviously touching moment. Instead, they decided to begin their own discussion that the other two could jump in on if they wanted to. “So two weeks or less?” Sam asked, wanting to know what Gabriel planned to do in the meantime. 

“Yep. I was thinking I could have you doing fight training with Thor. He is the most like Raph in terms of style, and while you’re doing that, I can work with Dean and Cas on hiding their grace,” Gabriel suggested. 

Sam nodded. “That makes sense. As long as there’s still time for us and Sariel in there too,” he said firmly. He was all for being as prepared as possibly, but as long as there was a chance he would die, he wanted as much time with his family as he could get as well. 

“Of course,” Gabriel said, having had the same thoughts. Thankfully, none of them needed to sleep so they would have plenty of time. “Starting tomorrow,” he added. They would all take what little was left of today to reconnect and then the night would be spent with just the three of them and they would start fresh in the morning. 

They quickly ended up in a routine. Once the sun came up, Sam and Thor hit the training grounds and Gabriel headed out to the gardens with Dean and Cas to walk them through disguising their grace as pagan. About mid-afternoon, Thor and Sif would bring Sariel down and the whole group would spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening together before they split up into couples, Sam and Gabriel with Sariel, of course. Cas gradually got better at keeping his newfound emotions under control and spent a great deal of time enamored with Sariel. 

Gabriel’s prediction was right on the money. It was just a day shy of two weeks when the alarms went off in the castle and they learned that the angels had them surrounded, Michael and Raphael at the helm. “Gabriel…” Sam said fearfully. 

“Don’t worry, Sammy. Just remember the plan. Thor will go out and issue the challenge and then he’ll send for us. Sari will be with Sif, who will be ready to run at a moment’s notice if need be, as will Dean and Cas. You just keep your head in our fight. That’s all you need to worry about. Got it?” 

Sam took a few deep steadying breaths as he tried to get himself back under control. “Yeah. Okay. Got it. I’m good,” he said after a few minutes. 

“Good,” Gabriel said, snapping his fingers and putting them both in traditional archangel battle armor, his own in gold and Sam’s in a light brown. Sam nodded tensely at him in thanks, never having seen the armor before and he called his own archangel blade to his hand at the same moment Gabriel did and they waited for their summon.


	11. Chapter 11

Thor transported himself out to the battlements at the gate in a flash of lightning and stood tall, looking down on the forces assembled before him. “You have no business here, angels,” he said firmly. 

“We have come for the vessels and the other angel you are harboring,” Michael said just as firmly. “Give them to us and we will go in peace.”

“I cannot just hand over those I have granted sanctuary to without following proper procedures. You will have to fight for the right to take them. Your best against our best. To the winner go the vessels and your lost angel.”

“Make it two on two and you have a deal,” Michael said with a cruel smirk. These animals were no match for an archangel. They would wipe the floor with them and then get what they came for. 

“Very well. Your champions and guards may enter. The rest must wait out here,” Thor said waving a hand and opening the gates to the city. The gates to the castle would stay firmly closed. The streets had emptied of all but the military as soon as the alarms went off, so Thor didn’t have to worry about any bystanders as they headed towards the stadium. 

Michael and Raphael stepped into the ring and only had to wait a few moments before their opponents arrived and both of them froze in shock. “Gabriel!” Michael was the first to find his voice. “How?” 

“When you decided to ruin heaven and have me tortured, I left. Now you are coming after my bonded soulmate and his family, and I can’t have that,” Gabriel told him taking a defensive stance, blade at the ready. 

Those words brought their attention to their other opponent and they were, once again, shocked to see another archangel. “Lucifer’s vessel!” Raphael stated angrily. 

“MY husband!” Gabriel shot back.

“You really think you two are any match for us?” Michael sneered. He hoped he wouldn’t have to kill his baby brother. He wasn’t quite that far gone, but he would if he had to. “You were always the weakest of us, and your ‘husband’ is practically a baby.”

“We won’t go down without a fight,” Gabriel snapped. “I will die before I will submit to you again, as will he.”

“So be it, then,” Michael said as he charged at Gabriel beginning the fight. 

Raphael was right behind him charging at Sam who easily blocked the first swing much to Raphael’s consternation. He had wanted to take him out of the fight as quickly as possible. With every swing that Sam blocked, Raphael got more and more angry, but it wasn’t until Sam drew first blood that he saw red, which was Sam’s cue to start fighting in earnest. He grabbed Raphael’s outstretched arm and spun down it, wrenching it completely out of the socket and ending with an elbow to the back of his neck that had him seeing stars as he fell to the ground, just barely managing to roll out of the way of Sam’s descending blade before he got back to his feet a little less steady than he had been before. “Lucky shot,” he snarled as he dodged Sam’s next blow.

When Gabriel spun out of the way of Michael’s first charge, the eldest archangel suddenly found himself on his back, rolling away from Gabriel’s blade and sweeping his feet out from under him at the same time. It didn’t give him the upper hand though since they both got to their feet at the same time and began to circle each other, and Gabriel twirled his blade in his hand in invitation. Michael took him up on it and their fight picked up in intensity. Michael had been right that Gabriel was always the weakest of the archangels, but what he failed to realize was that Gabriel had been through the same training as he had, and so knew his every move, but that was an advantage that Michael no longer had, since Gabriel had also trained with the pagans. He soon figured it out though, and began to get worried. Perhaps he wouldn’t win this fight as easily as he thought. He quickly put that idea out of his head though. Raphael would finish with the child soon enough and the two of them together could easily beat Gabriel, no matter the new tricks he had learned. 

Both Gabriel and Sam were forcing themselves to focus on their own fights and not worry about each other, but it was easier said than done. It didn’t help their case that they weren’t fighting to kill, unlike their opponents. In the end, it was Gabriel’s distraction as he glanced over at Sam to see how he was faring that was his undoing. Or rather, Michael’s undoing. Gabriel just barely avoided the killing blow from Michael but in doing so was forced to make his own killing blow and he felt a part of him die along with his brother. He had no time to deal with that right now. Not while his husband was still locked in bitter combat. Michael’s death distracted Raphael enough for Gabriel to slip behind him and bring him to his knees and Sam wasted no time pulling a thin line across his throat, snapping up a bottle for the released grace as he did so. 

Once Raphael was human he fell to the ground in defeat and Gabriel hit his knees as the sobs wracked through him and he crawled over to Michael’s body. Sam wanted to be there for Gabriel, but they couldn’t leave their backs open to an enemy, even if he was powered down now, so he turned to Thor first and asked, “Can you have someone take him to one of the empty rooms on our floor and guard him there?” Thor nodded, and waved a hand for one of the guards to come forward and do as he asked so Sam turned to the rest of the angels that were watching. “The rest of you return to heaven and stand down until Gabriel and I arrive to give you further orders.” They too nodded and filed towards the gates to retrieve the rest of the army and let them know of the change in leadership. None of them were going to argue the matter. Sam and Gabriel were the last archangel’s and had defeated their current leaders in clean combat, earning their position. 

That handled, Sam was finally free to go to his husband and fell to his knees next to Gabriel, who was huddled over Michael’s body with his head resting on his fallen brother’s chest as he sobbed. Sam wrapped his arm around Gabriel and pulled him close, and Gabriel turned to cling to Sam, weeping on his shoulder instead. Sam knew that being out here in full view of everyone wasn’t the best idea. If Gabriel was in his right mind, he wouldn’t want them to see him like this so he reached out a hand to Michael’s and flew them both into their rooms in the castle, landing Michael on the couch and he and Gabriel kneeling next to it. “I’m sorry, Gabe,” Sam said softly pressing a kiss to his lover’s head as his free hand carded soothingly through his hair. 

Gabriel was beyond words though and just clung to him tighter. It was nearly an hour before Gabriel relaxed his grip as his sobs turned to sniffles, and Sam picked him up and carried him to their bed, laying him down gently as Gabriel was already drifting off to sleep. A large outpouring of grief like that had no less effect on angels than they did on humans. Sam could see Gabriel’s grace dimming. If he hadn’t expected it, he would have been worried, but he knew that Gabriel would bounce back. His connection with his grace would return. Sam and Sariel were his anchors. He would never let himself leave them, no matter what kind of grief he was feeling right now. 

Once Gabriel was sleeping, though fitfully, Sam took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. He knew that Gabriel would want to talk to Raphael when he woke up, but Sam had every intention of easing his way and making sure that he had as little difficulty as possible, so he would have a conversation with the former archangel first. He stepped into the room that Raphael had been put in, nodding at the guard on his way in, and was quickly set on. “I want to see my brother!” Raphael said irately. 

“Which one?” Sam shot back heatedly and when Raphael seemed to falter, Sam took the opportunity to snap, “Sit down.”

Raphael glared at Sam but did as he was told, suddenly aware that he had no power here. Not only was he as much as human, but even if he did get a lucky shot against the fully powered archangel, he would still have to get through an entire city of pagans without powers. He had no choice but to play nice for the moment. “What do you want?” he snarled. 

“To talk to you,” Sam said evenly. “And then you can see Michael.” Raphael nodded curtly so Sam began. “Here’s how things are going to work now. Gabriel and I will be taking over heaven. We will return it to what it once was. You will go live among the humans, as a human. How long you are there depends on you. When you are ready to return to OUR heaven, you just pray for one of us and, should you be sincere, you will get your grace back and retake your place.” Raphael was now sneering at the idea, but then Sam added the kicker. “Gabriel seems to think that you had a heart once. He told me a lot about you, you know. How you used to be before Michael got you all twisted up in knots. I hope you find that person again,” he said with a note of finality. “Come on. I’ll let you see Michael now, and then Gabriel wants to speak with you when he wakes up before we send you to the human world.”


	12. Chapter 12

Raphael felt some of his anger starting to fade when Sam mentioned Gabriel’s impression of him. It had been a long time since he had considered ‘having a heart’ as the new archangel had put it. He was put so much off his game by that statement that he followed Sam without question down the hallway and into a very much lived in room where he caught sight of his older brother’s body laid out peacefully on the couch. He stepped over to it and said, “Leave me.”

“Alright,” Sam told him, realizing that he needed some time alone with his brother, but still needing to say, “Just know that the guard is outside the door so you won’t be able to leave.”

Raphael nodded wordlessly, and Sam stepped back into his and Gabriel’s bedroom, closing the door to give Raphael some privacy. He flew out for a moment to retrieve his daughter, not willing to be away from her for a moment longer, but came and went directly from the bedroom so as not to disturb Raphael’s vigil. Sif didn’t say a word, seeming to realize that Sam wasn’t up for talking and just handed the baby over with a sympathetic smile. Thor had returned a moment ago and told her what had happened. Sam climbed up into bed, lying next to his husband and laying a sleeping Sariel in between them as he propped up on his elbow, running his hand through Gabriel’s hair, just watching his family sleep. 

 

Raphael just stood there for a moment staring blankly at the body of his eldest brother as he tried to process what had happened. He tried to see Michael’s last moments, but he had been too focused on his own fight to notice what was going on with Michael. He couldn’t get the image of Gabriel’s collapse out of his mind though. The gut-wrenching sobs that pulled from his baby brother were burned into his mind. It wasn’t until the saw the signs of Gabriel’s hands clenching in the front of Michael’s shirt and the wet spot above it that he finally felt the tears welling up in his own eyes as he fell to his knees. It had been so long since he’d allowed himself to feel that he wasn’t even sure how to anymore. It didn’t seem right that the runaway had shed more tears for his brother than him who had stood by his side all these millennia, but he didn’t really care right now. As the first tear fell, he quickly wiped it away. 

He wasn’t sure how long he knelt there, silent tears falling for the brother who would least appreciate them, when his reverie was broken by the sound of a crying baby followed by shushing sounds and he tilted his head curiously wondering what was going on. It wasn’t until he heard Gabriel’s deep tenor break into a lullaby that he realized what he was hearing. They had a child. No wonder they fought so hard. As he listened to the words, “lut Barnet legges i vuggen ned, stundom gråter og stundom ler. Sove nå, sove nå, i jesu navn, Jesus bevare barnet,” he found himself being soothed as well and felt some of the pressure in his chest easing. It didn’t last long though before the music tapered off shortly after the baby’s cries did and then the door was opening. 

Gabriel stepped into the room and he could see Raphael stiffen, but he didn’t turn to look at him, still kneeling by Michael’s body. Gabriel stepped over slowly, feeling the tears well up in his own eyes again. He put a hand on Raphael’s shoulder and said a shaky, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to…” he trailed off as his throat closed up. 

“I know. He wouldn’t have given you a choice,” Raphael said emotionlessly, still not looking up at Gabriel. 

“Raphy…” Gabriel said almost pleadingly. He just wanted his brother to look at him. Something. He didn’t get his wish in the way he’d hoped. 

Raphael angrily shrugged Gabriel’s hand off his shoulder. “Stop it Gabriel. Just…stop,” he snapped as he got up and started pacing. He was trying to just let it go, but Gabriel had to keep pushing. Had to keep trying to make him FEEL with his stupid compassion and inane nicknames.

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said again, looking down as he lost control of his tears. 

“You should be!” Raphael yelled. “This is all your fault. You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?! You had to go messing with the vessels and bring all this crap down on us!”

“I didn’t mean to…”

“Well you did! You shouldn’t have even been here on earth in the first place! You were supposed to be dead!” Raphael cut himself and froze off as soon as he said that, but not soon enough and he didn’t miss the sharp intake of breath from Gabriel and finally noticed the tears falling fast and free down his brother’s cheeks as he had his arms wrapped around his middle like he was trying to hold himself together. “I…I’m sorry, Gabriel…I didn’t mean…”

“Yes you did,” Gabriel said unsteadily. 

“No…I…” Raphael found himself faltering at the sight of the agony that his baby brother was obviously in and couldn’t stop himself from stepping forward and wrapping his arms around him, as Gabriel fell apart. “I’m sorry, Gabriel. I’m just…Michael’s gone and you…but I know he didn’t give you a choice…it’s just…he was always there…and now he’s not…how do I…” Raphael felt his throat closing up again as he clung to his brother, who returned the favor. ‘Gabriel was just starting to pull himself together when Raphael came back to himself and stepped away uncomfortably. “I just…I need some time.”

“I understand,” Gabriel said sadly, wiping the tears from his cheeks. 

“Your bonded tells me I’m to be sent to live with the mud monkeys.”

Gabriel opened his mouth to protest the appellation, but stopped himself in time. It wouldn’t do any good and would just put Raphael on the defensive again. “Yeah. It seems like the best option to get some space. You’re welcome to come back when you’re ready though. We’ll keep your grace safe for you. I hope…one day…I just…I’ve lost Michael and Lucifer…I don’t want to lose you too. I just want my good big brother back. Tell me all hope isn’t lost?” 

“I can’t make any promises right now, Gabriel,” Raphael said more gently than he intended, and Gabriel nodded. That was good enough for him. He hadn’t said no. That was all Gabriel needed to keep the hope alive. “May I ask one thing before you send me away?” 

“What is it?” Gabriel asked curiously. 

“May I meet your child before I go?” 

“You want to…why?” he asked suspiciously. 

“I don’t know. I just…I don’t think you would have fought so hard if not for your child and maybe…if I can see it…if I can make it more real in my head…maybe it will help me to come to terms with things. To see that perhaps some good can come out of all of this. Does that make sense?” 

“Yeah. It does, strangely enough,” Gabriel nodded. “Just know that if you hurt her, I will kill you, brother or not.”

“Even at my worst, I would never harm a child. Especially not an angel child,” Raphael said almost offended. 

“Okay. Come with me,” Gabriel told him and led him into the bedroom. Sam was sitting in the rocking chair with Sariel, and eyed Raphael nervously as he came closer. 

“May I…hold her?” Raphael asked, not missing the tighter grip Sam took on her as he did. 

“It’s okay, Sam,” Gabriel assured him and only the fact that he trusted his husband so completely had him relinquishing his daughter to the man who had been trying to kill them just a few short hours ago. 

“She is precious,” Raphael said as he looked down at her, and locked eyes with her beautiful golden gaze. “A new hope for a better heaven. What is her name?” he asked not looking away from her. 

“Sariel,” Sam told him, still with a bit of tension in his voice. 

“A fitting name,” Raphael said with a nod before he lifted her and lowered his lips to her brow. “I will see you again one day, Sariel, and perhaps by then we will be able to be a family again,” he whispered before handing her back to Sam and turning to Gabriel with a nod that said so much more than words ever could. Gabriel was sure now that he would have his brother back eventually. He knew that Raphael needed time. Time to shrug off the shackles that Michael had kept on him. To learn how to feel again. To find himself again. But he would be back. Gabriel could see it in his eyes as he looked at Sariel. She had ensnared him just as she had everyone else who had seen her, and Raphael had joined the ranks of those who would do anything for the angelic child who had captured what was left of his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel's Lullaby https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx3xyBMiung&list=PLAUiV78ZH6LTML0M-r0xVMQucNMc0XnOZ&index=6


	13. Chapter 13

Gabriel dropped Raphael off at one of the nicer homeless shelters in the US and had given him a couple hundred dollars so that he would at least not starve. He would keep an eye on him and help if needed, but he figured if he could put Raphael in a situation where he had to depend on the kindness of people it might help him a little more than if Gabriel provided for him. He hated to do it. He wanted nothing more than to go back and take his brother to one of his homes and give him a credit card and everything else he might need, but it really was better this way. He just hoped that Raphael wouldn’t hate him for it later. He had made it clear that he was only a prayer away if Raph got in a bind and he would be watching, so he hoped that made up for it at least a bit.

When he returned to Sam a few minutes after he had left, Sam gave him a reassuring smile and handed Sariel over to him. Gabriel took the baby and then settled into Sam’s lap, curling up in his husband’s warmth. They would have to get to heaven soon and start getting them on track, but not yet. Gabriel needed some time to recover first. Raphael had left him to decide what to do with Michael too, not wanting to deal with it himself, and not able to get into heaven to lay him to rest anyway. Gabriel gave himself the rest of the day to mope and tomorrow they would get to work. 

They had decided not to take Sariel to heaven yet. After some discussion between them and with Dean and Cas, they had decided that the best way to do things would be to unlock everyone’s memories of before. It would be a long and difficult process, but still easier than trying to teach them anew. Needless to say, they wanted to get at least the first round of angels done before exposing Sariel. She would stay with Thor and Sif while they were busy. They hated leaving her for any length of time, but it would only be for a few days. 

The next morning, Gabriel and Cas took Sam and Dean back to heaven for the first time. They arrived in the assembly area and Sam and Gabriel stepped up onto the dais while Cas and Dean stood off to the side and all the other angels in heaven began arriving. Sam decided to let Gabriel do all the talking. He would just be silent support. Once the stream of angels stopped, Gabriel began to speak. “I’m sure you have all heard by now that Michael has fallen. He will be laid to rest in the garden in one hour for anyone who wishes to attend. Raphael is taking a sabbatical. In the meantime, this is my bonded mate Samuel. He and I will be in charge and we will return heaven to our father’s vision.”

That statement caused an uproar among the angels and Gabriel let it go on for a moment to get a feel for what everyone was thinking before he held up his hands for silence. “Unlike Michael, I will not lie to you. Father is gone. He left many millennia ago, and Michael changed heaven to what he wanted it to be. You have all been brainwashed to forget the way things used to be. The way our father made them. I will unlock those memories for you and then you can make a choice. You can choose to adapt to the way things will be again or you can fall.”

There was another bit of uproar as everything he said sunk in and he had never been so happy for the angelic ability to tell truth from falsehood. At least they wouldn’t call him a liar. Once again, he gave them some time to get their unhappiness out of their systems before he began to speak again. “Now, we don’t expect things to change overnight. Even when you get the memories back, you will still have your current memories as well. We are sure some of you may have more difficulty with the changes than others, but as long as you are willing to try, we will be patient. You will, at a minimum, treat each other, and us, with respect and courtesy. Anything beyond that, you can adapt to in your own time. After Michael is laid to rest, I would like to ask Joshua and all of the garrison commanders to assemble in the palace and I expect you all there. Thank you,” he finished, stepping down from the dais and over to Cas and Dean who Joshua had moved next to as the angels dispersed. 

“I am glad you have returned, Gabriel,” Joshua told him. “Your father has been hoping you would.”

“What? What do you mean? You’re still in contact with him?” Gabriel asked as he could feel his heart breaking all over again. That he would have abandoned them was bad enough, but to keep contact with only one just made it even worse. 

“I am. He has kept me as a conduit to heaven. He does still care, Gabriel, and he was filled with sorrow at what Michael turned heaven into. It is why I was given the garden to care for. Michael wished to keep me out of the way. He did not want to hear my council. Your father hoped that you would return one day. He knew that if anyone could save heaven it would be you,” Joshua told him.

“I…” Gabriel’s throat closed up as the wave of conflicting emotions washed over him. “I…” He took a deep breath to steady himself. “I need to go get Michael. I’ll meet you in the garden,” he said quickly. 

“Gabe…” Sam said softly reaching out to him, but the archangel was already gone and Sam sighed sadly. He could only imagine what Gabriel must be feeling right now. 

“I apologize for causing him distress, but it needed to be said,” Joshua said regretfully. 

“No, you’re right. In the long run, it will help, and he needed to know that he is doing the right thing, even if it hurts,” Sam told him and Joshua nodded gratefully. “So, does this mean you still have your memories from before?”

“I do. Our father has kept them protected for me,” Joshua told him. 

“Would you be willing to help with the others?” Sam asked. 

“I do not have the power or the skill to unlock their memories,” Joshua said regretfully. 

“No, I know. Gabriel will be doing all the unlocking of memories. I have only been an archangel for a few years and I don’t trust my skill in the mental arts enough to do such delicate work. When those memories are unlocked though, people are going to be angry, sad, scared, and so on. We could use all the help we can get keeping them calm and helping them to deal.”

“I would be happy to help any way I can,” Joshua said earnestly. 

“Thank you,” Sam told him as they reached the garden, Joshua having created a shortcut. Gabriel arrived shortly after them, his eyes red-rimmed telling Sam that he had taken a few minutes to pull himself together before returning with Michael’s body. 

“Where would you suggest we do this?” Gabriel asked Joshua. 

“I believe the best place would be near the waterfall,” Joshua suggested, and Gabriel nodded, lifting his brother in his arms and carrying him in that direction. Sam snapped his fingers and created a bier to hold Michael until he was lowered into the ground. As Gabriel had expected, there were not many that showed up. Until their memories were unlocked they would see such things as unnecessary frivolity, and Michael had not inspired love from the other angels. Only duty, and they would continue in their duties until given new ones. 

There were a few there though, including Cas and Dean, though they were only there for Gabriel, Cas not having the kindest thoughts about Michael right now and Dean having never met him. Mostly those in attendance were among the youngest and the more sensitive. Gabriel had decided that he had no interest in saying goodbye to the Michael that he became and instead said goodbye to the Michael that he knew before. He told a few stories about growing up with him, and his kindness and generosity. None of the other angels remembered that Michael yet, but they would, and his grave would remain here for those who wished to visit later and pay their respects once they did. 

Gabriel hated every minute of the service. He couldn’t let himself show his weakness in front of the others, so he had to keep a tight mask of control over his features, even as his heart was breaking. He even kept his distance from Sam, warning him with a look to back off. He knew that Sam’s compassion would break his masks, and he couldn’t do that here. Only his many millennia of practice and sheer stubborn will were keeping them in place as it was. 

Once Michael was lowered into the ground and a gesture filled the hole with dirt, one more fingersnap left a memorial marker. “Please spread the word for the commanders to meet in one hour,” he asked those in attendance, and Gabriel, Sam, Cas, Dean, and Joshua flew back to the palace. Once they were alone, Sam pulled Gabriel into a tight hug and the archangel let himself go, just a little bit. He cried into Sam’s shoulder for a few minutes before he pulled himself together again. “The first thing I want to do before anyone gets here is a little redecorating. Let them see from the start how things are changing.”


	14. Chapter 14

By the time angels began arriving, the palace was completely different than it had been. Even the layout had changed. It had gone from utilitarian and cold to warm and welcoming. Gone was the lack of color and perfect symmetry. It was now done up in soft blues, creams, and light browns. There was foliage scattered around including flowers. The furniture was comfortable and inviting, and all the doors to the meeting areas were expanded to large French doors from the thin single file doors that had been there before. It was almost like a new place. They hadn’t changed the rest of the palace yet. They would do that later when they had time. 

It was a group of rather nervous seraphs that gathered in the entry hall. They had no idea what to expect and what was going to happen to them, and the new décor just made them more uncomfortable and on edge. Gabriel had expected that at first. He only hoped that once they had their memories unlocked it would be appreciated more. The five of them quickly decided on a method to keep things moving. Gabriel would unlock the memories and Sam and Cas would handle those who were sad, while Dean and Joshua would calm those who were angry, and if need be, Gabriel could take a break from doing the unlocking and help them get control. It was Gabriel’s hope that they would help each other as well. 

There were nearly a hundred angels waiting in this first round and after that, he would do the garrisons one by one. No one would be leaving here today until they were emotionally stable at least. Once everyone had arrived, Gabriel sealed the doors and had everyone line up outside the main foyer. He had two dozen couches arranged around the large room and a few armchairs as well as he started pulling them in to unlock their memories. Some of them burst into tears, some burst into temper, and some just stared blankly at the walls as they tried to come to terms with it, but Gabriel didn’t have to take a break to regain order. Sam was doing well on his own with that and Gabriel was once again grateful that he’d been blessed with such a perfect husband. 

By the time Gabriel was finished, most of them had been calmed and, while still a little out of it, were managing just fine. There was one that quickly became a problem though. Sam had been attempting to calm him down, but was failing, so Gabriel went over. “What is going on, Uriel?” 

“You want to turn us into weak little children again, and I refuse. I want to talk to Raphael. He will fix this,” Uriel sneered. 

“I want to restore our father’s image of heaven,” Gabriel said firmly. 

“He left. He doesn’t get a say anymore,” Uriel snapped, and when Gabriel saw that the argument had attracted the attention of a lot of the others, some of whom seemed inclined to agree with Uriel, he knew that he had to put a stop to this before it got out of hand. 

“Well Michael is gone too, and it is MY will that matters here now. You can deal with it or you can fall,” he said evenly. 

“Where is Raphael? Did you kill him too?” Uriel accused.

“Raphael is alive and well. He asked for some time alone. He is on earth, and I will not allow anyone to bother him, as per his wishes,” Gabriel told him with a hard look that meant he had to make a choice. When Uriel just huffed and crossed his arms, storming off to one of the corner armchairs until he was released, Gabriel turned to Sam. “Put him on some kind of a watch list. If there is to be trouble it will likely come from him.” Sam nodded and made a mental note to do just that. 

The remainder of the day was spent with them mingling, seeing how people were doing and how they could help. They all, even Dean, spent a great deal of time holding an angel as they cried, despite Dean’s discomfort with it and it was well into the night when Gabriel unsealed the doors and let them leave, content with the fact that they would be okay. He had arranged to start with Uriel’s garrison tomorrow, so as to give him less time to start trouble followed by a few more of the ones he had noticed agreeing with the angry seraph. He would do one garrison a day and there were about fifty angels per garrison. Some of the ones who took the news the best, he asked to be available to assist. He would take care of all ninety-seven garrisons of seraphs before starting on the cherubs. They would take to the changes the easiest, so they could wait a bit. If all went according to schedule, all of the angels in heaven would have their memories unlocked within six months. 

They had originally been planning to wait a few more days before bringing Sariel to heaven, but Gabriel couldn’t stand being away from her for a moment longer, and Sam wasn’t doing much better, so Gabriel went to pick her up from Thor and Sif. Of the four people that he would trust his daughter with, Dean was the least helpful in terms of dealing with the angels and now that they had more angels coming back to help, he would be put in charge of Sari while they were working. Gabriel spent a great deal of time before morning came wrapped up with his husband and daughter, trying to calm his swinging emotions before another difficult day. Only the fact that all this would be worth it in the end gave Gabriel the motivation to keep going. 

Sam reminded him of Raphael’s reaction to meeting Sariel, and suggested that they take her down for a little while in the morning, so that those who were the most accepting of the changes that were coming to help could meet her before the rest started arriving. “I don’t know,” Gabriel said thoughtfully. “If word spreads that she’s here, what if someone tries to get in here to hurt her?”

“That will always be a danger, Gabriel. There is no one that can get in here that can get past either of us. We can even keep wards up around the family areas of the palace. We can’t hide her away forever, and I think it would be better to introduce her to smaller groups at first rather than be rushed the first time we take her out in public.”

“You have a point. And judging by the reaction of everyone else who’s met her, it would give them hope for the future. Okay. We can do that. But we’re not passing her around to everyone,” he said with a note of finality. 

“I wasn’t even going to suggest it,” Sam told him honestly. He wasn’t exactly comfortable with allowing practical strangers to hold her either. They would introduce her and let them get a good look, but she would be staying with either him or Gabriel until Dean brought her back upstairs. 

They headed down in time to meet the volunteers about an hour before Uriel’s garrison was set to arrive. Gabriel stood behind Sam, shielding the baby from view for a moment. “Gabriel and I thought that you had earned the right to meet the reason we’re doing this. We want heaven to be a place where we can raise our daughter in peace and love,” he said as Gabriel stepped out from behind him. 

“This is our daughter, Sariel,” Gabriel told them as they crept forward slowly to get a look at her and even if Gabriel hadn’t seen Sam’s point before, he definitely would have now. It was crowded around him with just ten angels, including Joshua trying to get a look, much less the mob they would get if they didn’t start introducing her to smaller groups and letting word spread. 

“She is perfect,” Joshua said in awe, reaching out a hand before one of his fingers was quickly captured in the baby’s tiny fist and was promptly shoved in her mouth. Joshua chuckled happily as the rest of the gathered angels stared at her, devotion shining on their faces. She was, in essence, their princess, after all. She turned her golden gaze to the gathered people and began to babble and blow spit bubbles and Gabriel shifted her so that she was sitting on his hand facing them, leaning back against his chest. Gabriel went to sit on the nearest couch, Sam standing behind him as the angels took turns coming to sit on either side of him and play with her for a moment. 

Dean came in about fifteen minutes before Uriel’s garrison was to arrive and headed back upstairs with her and Gabriel leaned back to whisper to Sam, who had leaned down to meet him, “This was a good idea. Thank you.” He looked around the room at the people who now seemed ready to walk through holy fire if they were asked, and knew that he had won something big here. Or more that his daughter had won something big.


	15. Chapter 15

It was easier doing the garrisons since not only were the groups half the size of the first one, but he had a lot more volunteers to help them through it. Bringing Sariel down for an hour in the mornings quickly became a routine and Gabriel and Sam both suspected that a good number of the volunteers did so just to be able to spend that time with her. There were a few times that Uriel tried to start trouble, but he was quickly shot back down by the other seraphs without even having to get Gabriel and Sam involved. Needless to say, neither of them were surprised when he fell about two months after his memories were unlocked. They were sure that the only reason it had taken him so long was because of his distaste of humans. It must have seemed like the better option by then though. Gabriel sent Cas to retrieve his grace. At the end of his human life he would be given the option to take it back. Perhaps it would teach him a few things. 

 

Raphael was managing on earth. The kindness of the people at the shelter had staggered him at first. They were so accepting of him even when he had nothing to offer in return and he found that overwhelming and more than a little confusing. They helped him get into job training where he met many more people, most of whom were also quite kind, though some were, what he noticed the humans called, jerks. The day he realized that before all this he would have been seen that way as well was the day things really began to turn around for him. He took computer classes during the day in preparation for getting a job and found that he really enjoyed, not to mention had a talent for, what humans called martial arts. 

He had been practicing one day at a nearby dojo when one of the kids came over and asked him to teach them how to do what he was doing. He blinked at the child for a moment as he considered the request, and almost sent him away before he had a flash of memory of Gabriel at about this kids age and him slightly older and Gabriel asking him to teach him with those big puppy dog eyes, so Raphael agreed, and eventually he ended up with a group of about eight kids surrounding him and by the time he headed back to the shelter that night, he had remembered how much joy he used to find in teaching and before long could be found volunteering his skills at the community center attached to the dojo. While he had far less patience with adults, he greatly enjoyed teaching the children and took every opportunity to do so. 

After a few weeks of computer classes, he got a job doing data entry for a small firm nearby that often hired people out of the shelter and a month later he found himself sharing a small apartment with three other people. Living in close quarters took a great deal of getting used to, but since he was rarely there, it was easier. After his job, which he didn’t particularly enjoy, but by now understood the necessity of, he would spend the evenings at the community center and only return to the apartment to sleep. The first time one of the kids hugged him, he had to swallow around the lump in his throat as he tentatively hugged the child back. 

He noticed that there were no females learning from him. In fact, there were few females learning at all. He didn’t understand it, but chalked it up to a quirk of humans. It wasn’t until he’d been on earth for a little over a year that he had his first encounter with a young girl. She was four years old and came up to him after his class and tugged on the ridiculous uniform that humans wore when fighting and when he looked down at her she lifted her arms. He looked at her confused for a minute before he leaned down and picked her up. He had noticed her watching, but thought nothing of it. Once he picked her up, she hugged him around the neck and said, “My brother says you awesome and you saved his life. Tanks.”

“Y-you’re welcome,” he said hesitantly as he felt that lump growing in his throat again. This time he was much more familiar with it though. He was used to feeling things now. The kids he worked with often brought up emotions in him and he’d even found himself learning to ‘play’ again. This little girl though, made him think of his niece and wonder what she was like now. How much she would have grown since the last time he saw her. He was still lost in thought by the time her brother returned from the locker room to retrieve her and he walked distractedly out the door and headed for the woods, knowing that he couldn’t call his brother when others were around. Once he was sure that he had gone far enough to have some privacy he turned his head towards the sky and said, “Gabriel, can we talk?” 

It was only a moment before he heard the almost forgotten flutter of wings and Gabriel was standing in front of him with a proud smile. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you, Raph. I’m proud of you.” Gabriel wanted to get that out there first, not knowing if his brother had called to yell at him, or make demands, or hopefully ask to come home. 

Gabriel was surprised when Raphael’s only response was to lunge towards him and pull him into a nearly suffocating hug. “Thank you, Gabriel. I’m sorry. For everything before. I was a jerk.”

“Yeah. You kinda were. But I forgive you,” Gabriel told him, knowing exactly what he needed to hear. 

“How can you just forgive me like that?” Raphael asked taking a step away and wiping the traitorous tears from his eyes. “I…I tortured you…for years. I tried to kill you and your husband. I…I tried to take you from your daughter.”

“I forgive you because you’re my brother and I love you. Always. You did what you thought you had to do to survive. You became a completely different person, but now you seem to have found yourself again. I can see the change in you Raph. I recognize my big brother in you now. The one who taught me how to fly. The one who helped my wings come in. The one who was always there for me, no matter what. That is who I forgive. The ‘jerk’ you became is all in the past now.” Gabriel waited a moment for that to sink in and he was grabbed in another hug. “You ready to come home now, Raphy?” Gabriel asked hopefully. 

Raphael nodded against Gabriel’s shoulder and Gabriel grinned and squeezed him tight for a moment before letting go and stepping away, holding out a glowing blue bottle. “Thank you, Gabriel,” Raphael said shakily as he took the bottle gingerly, looking at it for a moment before he raised his hand to break it, but stopped short. “The kids at the community center…”

“You will be welcome to come back and keep working with them if you want,” Gabriel told him. “I know that I’m ‘technically’ in charge in heaven, but as long as you aren’t hurting anyone, you don’t answer to me,” he assured him, knowing that needed to be stated. Raphael was an archangel just like him. They were equals. Raph wasn’t his subordinate. Hell, he rarely ‘governed’ heaven anyway these days. 

“What is home like now?” Raphael asked with hopeful trepidation. 

“It’s getting there. There are still some holdouts who tend to band together in ‘joy-free zones’ but for the most part, heaven is ringing with laughter again. It has been a difficult road, and there are still problems to iron out from time to time, but we are getting there, and we would love to have you home,” Gabriel urged gently. 

Raphael smiled and released the bottle of his grace, sucking in a long breath as he felt it filling him up once more. When the glow cleared he looked to a grinning Gabriel who was holding out a hand to him, and Raphael took it gratefully. He wasn’t sure how his brother knew that he needed the support right now, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Can we see my niece first?” he asked hopefully. Gabriel nodded and they flew into the much changed palace, appearing in Sam and Gabriel’s sitting room. 

Raphael took one look at the tiny girl with little blonde ringlets and shining golden eyes as she toddled around the room, Sam right behind her ready to catch her when she fell and he felt the tears welling up in his eyes again. He took a step towards her and knelt in front of her. “Hello, Sariel. I know you don’t remember me, but I’m your uncle Raphy.”

“Wafy,” she repeated. 

Raphael grinned at her, not noticing Gabriel and Sam going to sit on the couch and leaving them to get reacquainted. “That’s right. Raphy,” he said as he reached out a hand to her. “You’ve grown into such a pretty little angel.”

She grinned at him, ignoring his hand and climbing up on his lap, and his arm instinctively came around her to steady her and quickly turned into a loving hug as he ran a hand through her soft blonde hair and looked up through watery eyes to see Sam and Gabriel both watching with smiles and Sam gave him a nod that Raphael returned. He looked forward to getting to know his brother in law almost as much as he looked forward to getting to know his niece and reconnecting with his brother. It wasn’t until he picked up Sariel and carried her to sit in the chair across from Sam and Gabriel that he noticed the roundness of Sam’s stomach and felt a warmth fill him. This time he would be there from the beginning, and he wouldn’t miss a moment of it.


End file.
